The feature game of matchday 23 on Saturday will be the Ruhr derby between Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04 (15:30 CET). After three wins in a row in the league, BVB will be hoping to move themselves well clear of the relegation zone with a win against their biggest rivals. At the same time, Hertha BSC (at home against FC Augsburg), VfB Stuttgart (at Hannover 96), 1. FSV Mainz 05 (away to 1899 Hoffenheim) and SC Freiburg (at home to Bayer Leverkusen) will all be trying to pick up vital points in their quest to remain in the league. The evening fixture on Saturday will be between Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburger SV (18:30 CET).
Manager Roberto Di Matteo will take his Schalke side to the Signal-Iduna-Park for the first time on Saturday for the derby against Borussia Dortmund. Tranquillo Barnetta is looking forward to the 146th derby and has a good argument as to why Schalke should beat Dortmund: “I’ve never lost against BVB with Schalke. I’m hoping for that run to continue.”
Motivated despite losing in the Champions League
BVB played in the Champions League on Tuesday and picked up two injuries during their 2-1 loss to Juventus. Lukasz Piszczek picked up an injury to his left ankle and will miss the game, whilst Sokratis (adductor problem) is hoping that he’ll be able to play. However, BVB are still motivated to pick up points against their rivals from Gelsenkirchen. “I think that we can and we will take another step against Schalke on Saturday,” said BVB captain Mats Hummels after the game against the Italian side. They currently sit in twelfth place, which is significantly lower than Schalke but they have momentum after three wins in a row in the league, in which they scored ten goals. S04 have only picked up four points and scored two goals in their last three games.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar picked up a knock to his shin during last week’s Champions League game against Real Madrid. The striker has been back in training this week and should be back on the pitch for the game against BVB on Saturday: “Things have been getting better. I’m always hopeful but we’ll have to wait and see.” The Netherlands international has missed his side’s last four Bundesliga games through suspension. The Royal Blues will be without a few important players for the game: Julian Draxler, Jefferson Farfán, Ralf Fährmann, Joel Matip and Chinedu Obasi. Borussia will still be without Kevin Großkretz (muscle tear).
Weakened Leverkusen come up against relegation candidates Freiburg
SC Freiburg will meet the side in sixth place on Saturday. But Freiburg will have a chance when they visit the BayArena and could move out of the relegation places with a win. Roger Schmidt’s side have only picked up one point from their last three games. Most recently, the Werkself drew 2-2 against Augsburg after goalkeeper Marwin Hitz scored the equaliser in the 94th minute. In midweek, Leverkusen beat Atlético Madrid 1-0 in the Champions League.
Freiburg currently have eleven points less than Leverkusen and are ten places worse off. They will be without two important centre backs on Saturday in Marc Torrejon (suspended) and Oliver Kempf.
Bad record for the club from the capital
Hertha BSC have never won against Augsburg and have not scored in four of the last five meetings between the two sides. They have also failed to pick up a point in both of their last two Bundesliga games. Nevertheless, Hertha will be wanting to pick up three points against FCA: “A win is a must in the relegation battle,” believes striker Julian Schieber. But Augsburg are without a win in their last three games for the first time this season and have only scored seven goals.
Both teams will be without some players due to injury. The club from the capital will have Valentin Stoker missing after he picked up his fifth yellow card. Pál Dárdai has a solution for that: “Marvin Plattenhardt will be back, Nico Schulz is our quickest player and can get forward after winning the ball back. We have enough options.”
Poor start to the second half of the season for Stuttgart
The feature game of matchday 23 on Saturday will be the Ruhr derby between Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04 (15:30 CET). After three wins in a row in the league, BVB will be hoping to move themselves well clear of the relegation zone with a win against their biggest rivals. At the same time, Hertha BSC (at home against FC Augsburg), VfB Stuttgart (at Hannover 96), 1. FSV Mainz 05 (away to 1899 Hoffenheim) and SC Freiburg (at home to Bayer Leverkusen) will all be trying to pick up vital points in their quest to remain in the league. The evening fixture on Saturday will be between Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburger SV (18:30 CET).
Manager Roberto Di Matteo will take his Schalke side to the Signal-Iduna-Park for the first time on Saturday for the derby against Borussia Dortmund. Tranquillo Barnetta is looking forward to the 146th derby and has a good argument as to why Schalke should beat Dortmund: “I’ve never lost against BVB with Schalke. I’m hoping for that run to continue.”
Motivated despite losing in the Champions League
BVB played in the Champions League on Tuesday and picked up two injuries during their 2-1 loss to Juventus. Lukasz Piszczek picked up an injury to his left ankle and will miss the game, whilst Sokratis (adductor problem) is hoping that he’ll be able to play. However, BVB are still motivated to pick up points against their rivals from Gelsenkirchen. “I think that we can and we will take another step against Schalke on Saturday,” said BVB captain Mats Hummels after the game against the Italian side. They currently sit in twelfth place, which is significantly lower than Schalke but they have momentum after three wins in a row in the league, in which they scored ten goals. S04 have only picked up four points and scored two goals in their last three games.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar picked up a knock to his shin during last week’s Champions League game against Real Madrid. The striker has been back in training this week and should be back on the pitch for the game against BVB on Saturday: “Things have been getting better. I’m always hopeful but we’ll have to wait and see.” The Netherlands international has missed his side’s last four Bundesliga games through suspension. The Royal Blues will be without a few important players for the game: Julian Draxler, Jefferson Farfán, Ralf Fährmann, Joel Matip and Chinedu Obasi. Borussia will still be without Kevin Großkretz (muscle tear).
Weakened Leverkusen come up against relegation candidates Freiburg
SC Freiburg will meet the side in sixth place on Saturday. But Freiburg will have a chance when they visit the BayArena and could move out of the relegation places with a win. Roger Schmidt’s side have only picked up one point from their last three games. Most recently, the Werkself drew 2-2 against Augsburg after goalkeeper Marwin Hitz scored the equaliser in the 94th minute. In midweek, Leverkusen beat Atlético Madrid 1-0 in the Champions League.
Freiburg currently have eleven points less than Leverkusen and are ten places worse off. They will be without two important centre backs on Saturday in Marc Torrejon (suspended) and Oliver Kempf.
Bad record for the club from the capital
Hertha BSC have never won against Augsburg and have not scored in four of the last five meetings between the two sides. They have also failed to pick up a point in both of their last two Bundesliga games. Nevertheless, Hertha will be wanting to pick up three points against FCA: “A win is a must in the relegation battle,” believes striker Julian Schieber. But Augsburg are without a win in their last three games for the first time this season and have only scored seven goals.
Both teams will be without some players due to injury. The club from the capital will have Valentin Stoker missing after he picked up his fifth yellow card. Pál Dárdai has a solution for that: “Marvin Plattenhardt will be back, Nico Schulz is our quickest player and can get forward after winning the ball back. We have enough options.”
Poor start to the second half of the season for Stuttgart
Hannover’s record against VfB Stuttgart is their best against any Bundesliga side. They haven’t lost any of their last six games at home between the two sides since the 2-1 loss in 2006. Stuttgart have only picked up one point in 2015 and have lost their last three, which means they are the side with the worst points return in 2015 and leaves them bottom of the table.
But Stuttgart’s 1-0 win in the game between the sides before the winter break showed that Hannover can be beaten and they will be hoping to pick up points against Tayfun Korkut’s side once again. And the side still believe in manager Huub Stevens: “We’ll all believe in the manager as long as he believes in us 100%,” said Dutt.
Mainz have momentum after last matchday
Mainz 05 got back to winning ways under their new manager Martin Schmidt, who led his side to a 3-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt in his first game in charge. No Mainz manager has ever lost their first away game, which is a good omen ahead of their game against TSG.
Hoffenheim have been disappointing in 2015 so far and have only picked up four points from their last five games. But they managed to pick up an away win against Berlin last time out. Hoffenheim have only won one of their last eleven Bundesliga games against Mainz, which came on 30th September 2007.
Eintracht out of form
Hamburger SV travel to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday evening (18:30 CET). Frankfurt are yet to lose at home since the winter break but have only picked up seven points from their last seven games. Thomas Schaaf’s side have the worst defensive record in the league but they have a pretty good record going forward.
HSV have distanced themselves from the relegation zone since the winter break. Hamburg will be without two important players in Ivica Olic and Lewis Holtby for the game against the Eagles. In the game between the sides before the winter break, Eintracht came out on top 2-1.
