It’s not just the game between VfB Stuttgart and SC Freiburg on Saturday (15:30 CEST) or the Rhein derby between 1. FC Köln and Bayer Leverkusen that have huge importance on the Bundesliga, but so do all of the other games that afternoon.
Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt play each other for the last chance to maintain their fight for the Europa League places, whilst Michael Frontzeck will take charge of his first game as Hannover 96 manager at home to 1899 Hoffenheim, who are also fighting for a place in Europe next season. Hamburger SV and FC Augsburg both need a win for different reasons in their game, with Hamburg trying to avoid relegation and Augsburg trying to maintain sixth place. On Saturday evening (18:30 CEST), a win for FC Bayern München against Hertha BSC could set them up with a chance of winning the title on Sunday if VfL Wolfsburg don’t match their result.
Two teams in the thick of a relegation battle
One side on 26 points in 17th, the other with 29 points and in 14th: Stuttgart and Freiburg aren’t separated by much points wise but they are worlds apart when you look at the table. But if VfB win and other results go their way then they could jump out of the relegation zone for the first time since the winter break. And their form is on the up after two wins in a row and three games without defeat.
Freiburg’s away form has also been pretty poor of late. In their last three away games on the road, SCF have only picked up one point and have scored only one goal. In the last four meetings between the two sides, including Stuttgart’s 4-1 win before the winter break, have all been won by VfB. Both sides will have a player missing through suspension: Pavel Krmas for Freiburg and Serey Dié for VfB.
Freiburg manager Christian Streich is optimistic ahead of the game: “We have to keep our heads up, put in a good week’s worth of training, back each other up and play another good game in Stuttgart,” he explained. Stuttgart sporting director Robin Dutt is also positive about his team’s situation: “We have great team spirit.”
Leverkusen fighting for third
Köln’s run of seven games unbeaten at home and their seven point cushion on the relegation zone means that safety has almost been confirmed for next season. The Werkself are currently fighting for third place, which would mean automatic qualification to next season’s Champions League. Roger Schmidt’s side are currently tied on points with Borussia Mönchengladbach and won’t give anything to their closest rivals.
Bayer will want to extend their winning streak to eight games with another three points on Saturday. Schmidt’s side have only conceded two goals in their previous seven outings. “A derby is always a special game. It’s not just the position in the table that counts,” warned Bayer 04 sporting director Rudi Völler. Köln manager Peter Stöger is expecting a tough game: “It’ll be tough. Bayer 04 are on a good run. They are a lot more compact than they were before the winter break. They have always had a lot of quality going forward. Along with the Bayern game, this will be our toughest game in 2015.”
BVB and Frankfurt fighting for European places
Both Dortmund and Frankfurt will be fighting for European football next season when they face each other at the Signal Iduna Park. BVB and Eintracht are both six points adrift of sixth place. Whilst Borussia have fought their way up over the last few weeks, Frankfurt are currently four games without a win and have only picked up two points in that time.
It’s not just the game between VfB Stuttgart and SC Freiburg on Saturday (15:30 CEST) or the Rhein derby between 1. FC Köln and Bayer Leverkusen that have huge importance on the Bundesliga, but so do all of the other games that afternoon.
Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt play each other for the last chance to maintain their fight for the Europa League places, whilst Michael Frontzeck will take charge of his first game as Hannover 96 manager at home to 1899 Hoffenheim, who are also fighting for a place in Europe next season. Hamburger SV and FC Augsburg both need a win for different reasons in their game, with Hamburg trying to avoid relegation and Augsburg trying to maintain sixth place. On Saturday evening (18:30 CEST), a win for FC Bayern München against Hertha BSC could set them up with a chance of winning the title on Sunday if VfL Wolfsburg don’t match their result.
Two teams in the thick of a relegation battle
One side on 26 points in 17th, the other with 29 points and in 14th: Stuttgart and Freiburg aren’t separated by much points wise but they are worlds apart when you look at the table. But if VfB win and other results go their way then they could jump out of the relegation zone for the first time since the winter break. And their form is on the up after two wins in a row and three games without defeat.
Freiburg’s away form has also been pretty poor of late. In their last three away games on the road, SCF have only picked up one point and have scored only one goal. In the last four meetings between the two sides, including Stuttgart’s 4-1 win before the winter break, have all been won by VfB. Both sides will have a player missing through suspension: Pavel Krmas for Freiburg and Serey Dié for VfB.
Freiburg manager Christian Streich is optimistic ahead of the game: “We have to keep our heads up, put in a good week’s worth of training, back each other up and play another good game in Stuttgart,” he explained. Stuttgart sporting director Robin Dutt is also positive about his team’s situation: “We have great team spirit.”
Leverkusen fighting for third
Köln’s run of seven games unbeaten at home and their seven point cushion on the relegation zone means that safety has almost been confirmed for next season. The Werkself are currently fighting for third place, which would mean automatic qualification to next season’s Champions League. Roger Schmidt’s side are currently tied on points with Borussia Mönchengladbach and won’t give anything to their closest rivals.
Bayer will want to extend their winning streak to eight games with another three points on Saturday. Schmidt’s side have only conceded two goals in their previous seven outings. “A derby is always a special game. It’s not just the position in the table that counts,” warned Bayer 04 sporting director Rudi Völler. Köln manager Peter Stöger is expecting a tough game: “It’ll be tough. Bayer 04 are on a good run. They are a lot more compact than they were before the winter break. They have always had a lot of quality going forward. Along with the Bayern game, this will be our toughest game in 2015.”
BVB and Frankfurt fighting for European places
Both Dortmund and Frankfurt will be fighting for European football next season when they face each other at the Signal Iduna Park. BVB and Eintracht are both six points adrift of sixth place. Whilst Borussia have fought their way up over the last few weeks, Frankfurt are currently four games without a win and have only picked up two points in that time.
In the previous meeting between the two sides, Eintracht had strikers Alexander Meier and Haris Seferovic to thank after they both scored one goal each in the Eagles’ 2-0 win. However, they have only scored one goal and conceded 10 so far in 2015. They will not only have to reshuffle their defence due to the absence of Anderson and Bastian Oczipka through suspension but it’s also not clear as to whether they will be able to rely on the injured Stefan Aigner and Slobodan Medojevic, as well as the returning Carlos Zambrano.
Frontzeck trying to keep Hannover up
Hannover are currently 13 games without a win and have only picked up six points from those games. Their last win came back on 16th December against Augsburg. Since then, the Niedersachsen club have gone from being Europa League contenders to relegation candidates. A good sign for 96 could be that Hoffenheim are without a win in four. However, TSG still have European football in their sights for next season, with only a five point gap separating them and sixth.
It’s clear that 1899 are anything but an easy opposition for Hannover. Hoffenheim have won the last three meetings between the two sides, most recently the game between the two sides before the winter break which they won 4-3. Both teams both have players missing due to suspension: Germany international Kevin Volland and captain Andreas Beck for the visitors, Ceyhan Gülselam and Hiroki Sakai for Hannover.
HSV and Augsburg both need a win
Hamburger SV are the only side in the relegation battle that are not able to move out of the relegation zone this weekend. After defeat in the northern derby against Bremen last weekend, Bruno Labbadia’s side are now four points from safety. HSV will want to put a run of nine games without a win against Augsburg behind them with three points on Saturday. They will have to bring their run of 495 minutes without a goal to an end too if they want to do that. Zoltan Stieber scored their last goal in the 2-1 defeat to Frankfurt on 28th February. Labbadia will be without the suspended Valon Behrami and Lewis Holtby as well as the injured Cleber.
The visitors put an end to their run of four games without a win last time out against Stuttgart and currently occupy one of the Europa League places. “They have to win, a point wouldn’t be enough,” said Markus Weinzierl. “They have to be attacking but make sure we don’t walk into a trap.”
Bayern could wrap up title with a win
Hertha BSC have only one two of their previous 29 meetings in Munich, the last of which came on 29th October 1977 with a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Gerhard Grau and Bernd Gersdorff. The record holders have won the last seven meetings between the two sides and have won the last three in the league. Bayern could win the title this weekend with a win but they would need VfL Wolfsburg to not match their result on Sunday to lift the trophy.
Hertha BSC have been more solid under manager Pal Dardai than they were before. Berlin are unbeaten in their last seven games, with three wins and four draws. Their reward is a seven point cushion on the relegation zone. And that could be vital with tough games against Dortmund, Mönchengladbach, Frankfurt and Hoffenheim still to come.
