Bundesliga Preview, Week 20: Hannover 96 Visit Bayer Leverkusen In Clash For Second

Bayer Leverkusen vs. Hannover 96

Friday, 2:30 PM, TV: ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com

Another round of Bundesliga games, another great Friday matchup. This one is among the best of the season, as third-place Hannover 96 travel to the BayArena to face second-place Bayer Leverkusen. Bayer picked up an expected but unnecessarily precarious victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach last weekend thanks to a brilliant free-kick from Michal Kadlec and a pair of goals from Gonzalo Castro, while Hannover lost by a single goal at home to Schalke 04. Victory for Leverkusen would put them five points clear of Hannover and close the gap with leaders Borussia Dortmund to eight points. However, the home side have a very poor record at the BayArena this season, the second-worst home defence in the Bundesliga, and have won just one of their five home games against top-half opposition this season. Worse, Swiss midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta will be out for several weeks as Bayer’s injury problems have continued. Hannover have a decent chance in this game, but despite their poor home record Leverkusen should be favoured.

Nürnberg vs. Hamburg SV

Saturday, 9:30 AM

It’s been a good week in front of goal for Nürnberg striker Julian Schieber -- he scored against Freiburg last weekend and hit a brace in FCN’s DFB Pokal quarterfinal with Schalke. Unfortunately for Schieber and Nürnberg, they only claimed a draw in Freiburg and lost out 3-2 to a stunning hundred-nineteenth minute goal from Schalke’s seventeen-year-old midfielder Julian Draxler in the cup. Hamburg SV, in contrast, picked up a third straight win, a solid 1-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt that moved HSV up to sixth. While Ruud Van Nistelrooy is reportedly unhappy at Hamburg’s refusal to let him return to Real Madrid, his side have a good chance to put some pressure on Mainz and get closer to the European places; Nürnberg aren’t in very good shape and Hamburg seem to be finding some form.

Schalke 04 vs. Hoffenheim

Saturday, 9:30 AM

It was a dramatic but very positive week for Schalke; victory in Hannover was followed by a 3-2 triumph over Nürnberg in the DFB Pokal with the winning goal coming in the penultimate minute of extra time. Hoffenheim had a late goal to celebrate too, as David Alaba snatched a point in the nintieth minute against St. Pauli. However, they were also knocked out of the Pokal in midweek by 2.Bundesliga side Energie Cottbus. Felix Magath’s team are on some good form and can move into the top half of the table for the first time this season with a victory, while Hoffenheim’s inconsistency has continued and they are slipping out of the race for the European places.

St. Pauli vs. Cologne

Saturday, 9:30 AM

Simply, this is your archetypal six-pointer. St. Pauli dropped into sixteenth, the relegation play-off place, after Cologne trounced Werder Bremen 3-0 last Sunday. The Westphalians swapped with the Hamburg side, taking over fifteenth. The two are level on points with Cologne a shade ahead on goal difference, so a victory either way could be very significant in the relegation battle. Neither of these teams is particularly good, and both have been scoring plenty of late, but Cologne should come in with a bit more confidence -- while they beat Bremen very convincingly, St. Pauli conceded a ninetieth-minute equalizer to Hoffenheim after Gerald Asamoah had appeared to give them a vital victory with nine minutes to play.

Wolfsburg vs. Borussia Dortmund

Saturday, 9:30 AM

A late goal from Simon Kjaer gave Wolfsburg a badly-needed win against Mainz 05 last week, but they face up to a much tougher test on Matchday 20 as leaders Borussia Dortmund visit the Volkswagen Arena. BVB controlled their match at home against Stuttgart but failed to find a second goal, and Pavel Pogrebnyak punished them six minutes from the end and the match ended in a 1-1 draw. Dortmund haven’t dropped points in consecutive games this season, and Wolfsburg don’t look good enough to make it happen here, although if they can scrape a result, the title race could look just a little bit more open, particularly in light of Shinji Kagawa’s season-ending metatarsal injury.

Werder Bremen vs. Bayern Munich

Saturday, 9:30 AM, TV: GOL TV

Whether they admit it or not, Werder Bremen are in serious trouble. Just three points above the relegation zone, four points from fifteen have put them in danger of the drop. To make matters worse, they were hammered by Cologne -- of all teams, Cologne! -- last weekend and created nothing despite having far more of the ball. Bremen have lost two of their best attacking players in Mesut Özil and Hugo Almeida, and Naldo has missed much of the season through injury. Bayern Munich won’t care about that; after a 4-0 midweek drubbing of Alemannia Aachen in the DFB Pokal, the Bavarians will be hoping to run up a similar score against their northern rivals. Bayern have consistently found space in behind the slow Bremen defence in the last few years, and if Louis van Gaal’s side can put their chances away, FCB will win comfortably here.

Kaiserslautern vs. Mainz 05

Saturday, 12:30 PM, TV: GOL TV (tape delay)

Wednesday was a day of upsets in the DFB Pokal -- Bayern Munich saved the top flight’s blushes after Hoffenheim and Kaiserslautern both fell to 2.Bundesliga opponents. Mainz 05 were also knocked out of the Pokal by a second-division side, but that was way back when they were still up in the title race alongside Borussia Dortmund. Since then, they’ve dropped down to fifth, falling behind Bayern Munich last week after losing late at home to Wolfsburg. Both of these sides don’t have anything resembling form, but Mainz have a decent chance to rebound in this game because of ‘Lautern’s shakiness at the back.

Stuttgart vs. Freiburg

Sunday, 9:30 AM

The season’s second Baden-Württemberg derby finds Stuttgart and Freiburg in starkly different situations -- and in the opposite places from what one might have expected before the season. Bruno Labbadia’s side have picked up four points since the winter break, including a late draw last week against Borussia Dortmund. However, they are still in seventeenth place, three points from safety. Freiburg have drawn their last three matches, and will be without top scorer Papiss Cissé for several weeks due to an injury. It’s said that records and form don’t count for much in derbies, but Stuttgart should be favoured to avenge their loss to Freiburg earlier in the season and continue their strong start to 2011.

Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach

Sunday, 11:30 AM, TV: ESPN3.com

Last week this column confidently predicted that Borussia Mönchengladbach would lose. They did just that, falling 3-1 at home to Leverkusen, and will probably repeat that performance in Frankfurt this weekend. Eintracht Frankfurt have lost their first two matches of the second half, 3-0 at home to Hannover and 1-0 in Gelsinkirchen against Schalke, but will fancy themselves to get back on track here. Although ‘Gladbach are abysmal at the back, this game may be worth watching as they actually play some decent football.