Bundesliga Weekend Preview: Round 13

Friday 14th November (all times local)

20:30  Hannover – VfL Bochum 

Saturday 15th November

15:30  VfB Stuttgart – Arminia Bielefeld

15:30  Bayer Leverkusen – Schalke   

15:30  Hertha Berlin - Hamburg 

15:30  Borussia Dortmund – Eintracht Frankfurt

15:30  Energie Cottbus - Karlsruhe

15:30  Borussia Mönchengladbach – Bayern Munich

15:30  1899 Hoffenheim – VfL Wolfsburg  

Sunday 16th November

17:00  Werder Bremen – 1.FC Köln    

Hannover – VfL Bochum   

The week 13 action kicks off on Friday at the AWD Arena as Hannover host visitors Bochum.  Dieter Hecking’s side were unable to build upon their impressive home win over Hamburg from the previous week as they went down to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Köln.  The Niedersachsen trainer will be demanding three points this Friday from the home game against a struggling Bochum side.  

He will have his defence strengthened by the return of Mario Eggimann, which means that Christian Schulz can move back into the midfield.  He does however have both Jiri Stajner and Hanno Balitsch out suspended.   

Bochum sit precariously down in 16th place in the Bundesliga having failed to win any of their last nine games.  Marcel Koller’s side have only registered one win all season and that was at home to Bielefeld.  

Koller may opt to freshen up the midfield with the introduction of either Epalle, Imhof or Schröder, but start striker Stanislav Sestak remains on the sidelines with a broken toe.    

VfB Stuttgart – Arminia Bielefeld  

Stuttgart face Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday looking to make home advantage count as they look for an important three points.  Consistency still evades the Swabians and they find themselves down in 11th having lost as many games as they have won (five).  They have taken just one point from their past three games.  

Armin Veh welcomes back defender Serdar Tasci to his squad following injury and he should start.  Mexican Ricardo Osorio could come in for Träsch at right back, while Artur Boka could take the place of Ludovic Magnin.   

Bielefeld find themselves in a relegation fight with a third of the season gone having failed to record a win in their last eight games.  Two consecutive losses sees them on a downward spiral, which will be difficult to arrest at the Mercedes-Benz Arena this weekend.   

Robert Tesche and Nico Herzig are both unavailable through suspension, while defender Markus Bollmann is out ill.   

Bayer Leverkusen – Schalke  

The marquee match of the weekend undoubtedly takes place at the Bay-Arena with new leaders Bayer Leverkusen taking on Schalke.   

Despite the fact that the Werkself surrendered a 3-0 lead last weekend against Karlsruhe, the fact that Hoffenheim lost meant they took over at the top of the table courtesy of goal difference.  Now that they have reached the summit Bruno Labbadia will not want his side to give it up.  The visit of Schalke however will provide a thorough test of their ability.

The Bayer trainer has lost Pirmin Schwegler after the midfielder suffered a knee injury in training.  That means an unchanged line-up should be sent out on Saturday.  

Schalke went down to a 2-1 home loss to Bayern last weekend, and find the tough opponents coming thick and fast at the moment.  The Königsblauen dominated the game against Bayern in terms of possession and corners, but it was the Bavarians who took home the three points.  

Levan Kenia is the only injury absentee for Fred Rutten, but it could well be that Ivan Rakitic comes into the side for Halil Altintop with full back Christian Pander also tipped to play.    

Hertha Berlin - Hamburg   

The positive start to the season continued last weekend for the capital club as they finally inflicted a defeat upon high-flying Hoffenheim.  Hertha are in the top five and find themselves just four points off the top having recovered well from their 5-1 hammering at the hands of Werder Bremen.   

Marko Pantelic is a slight injury worry with a thigh injury, while full back Sofian Chahed couldn’t train on Thursday and is rated doubtful.   

Hamburg got back to winning ways last weekend against Dortmund having suffered their third 3-0 away defeat of the season against Hannover previously.  Martin Jol however will be warning his side against complacency as they seek to improve their away form.  

He does have the luxury of Nigel de Jong and Marcell Jansen returning to fitness and the duo are expected to feature at the Olympiastadion.    

Borussia Dortmund – Eintracht Frankfurt  

Last weekend’s defeat to Hamburg cost Drtmund more than just three points with Robert Kovac getting a three match ban for his red card and trainer Jürgen Klopp being hit with a €12,000 fine for his verbal attack on the match officials.  

Alexander Frei probably won’t be fit to return this weekend but fellow forward Nelson Valdez should be ready to return following his injury lay-off last week.   

Frankfurt have climbed well clear of the relegation zone and were only denied a second successive win last weekend by a late Mario Gomez equaliser at home to Stuttgart.   

Friedhelm Funkel still has nearly half a team missing with Preuß, Korkmaz, Meier, Spycher, Amanatidis, and Chris all out.  Patrick Ochs is also unavailable having picked up five yellow cards.   

Energie Cottbus – Karlsruhe  

The three points on offer at the Stadion der Freundschaft are extremely important for both Cottbus and Karlsruhe as they continue to falter at the bottom end of the table. 

The Lausitzer currently prop up the table with just six points from twelve games and they have lost five of their last six games so form is certainly not on their side.   

Bojan Prasnikar will be without Stanislav Angelov and Vragel da Silva, while Igor Mitreski remains internally suspended following his outspoken criticism of the club.  

Last weekend’s tremendous fightback against Leverkusen may just provide the spark that will ignite Karlsruhe’s season.  The Baden side look to be suffering from ‚second season syndrome’ having gone on a run of five successive losses this season. 

Trainer Edmund Becker will want to see his side show their quality against the bottom side and take the three points.  He has Maik Franz poised to return and Stefano Celozzi looks set to start ahead of fellow Bayern loanee Andreas Görlitz.      

Borussia Mönchengladbach – Bayern Munich  

Gladbach against Bayern in the past was the glamour tie in German football and where Bayern have kept their place at the top of German football, Borussia find themselves fighting for their place in top flight under new trainer Hans Meyer.   

Saturday’s fixture will conjure up lots of memories from the past, but both sides will be focusing totally on the three points.   

Bayern’s so-called ‚crisis’ seems to be over now that they have stormed up the table to third and a point behind the leaders Hoffenheim and Leverkusen.  Uli Hoeness’ prediction that they will finish as winter champions doesn’t now seem like an idle prediction.  

Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm are poised to return for Bayern, which leaves Jürgen Klinsmann with the task of dropping either van Bommel, Zé Roberto or Borowski from the midfield.     

1899 Hoffenheim – VfL Wolfsburg  

The Hoffenheim dream finally suffered a setback last weekend with a 1-0 defeat away to Hertha Berlin.  Trainer Ralf Rangnick admitted that his side had only performed at 70% of their capabilities and will be hoping that they can get back to their top form this weekend.   

Last Saturday’s defeat shows that the Hoffenheim players are not machines and are fallable.  Full back Andreas Ibertsberger is an injury doubt with Löw ready to fill in.   

Wolfsburg have been a bit of a yo-yo club over the last five games going from defeat to victory and then back to defeat.  Last weekend saw them beat Cottbus 3-0 with Grafite bagging a hat trick, so it is anybody’s guess as to whether they can avoid the yo-yo effect and avoid defeat to Hoffenheim.    

Werder Bremen – 1.FC Köln

The weekend’s action is wrapped up on Sunday with Werder Bremen hosting Köln at the Weser Stadion.  Werder already find themselves eight points behind the leaders with a third of the season gone, and the Green and Whites need to put a run together before Christmas to halt talk of a crisis.  

Mesut Özil is suspended so Aaron Hunt should deputise, although Vranjes is an alternative.  Hugo Almeida is an option to replace Markus Rosenberg in attack.   

Köln actually find themselves two points and two places above Werder in the table so Christophe Daum can be pleased with the start his team have made to the season following their promotion from the second division. 

Mathew Burt