Two of the Bundesliga’s most inconsistent sides meet on Saturday as Bremen host Tayfun Korkut’s Hannover side as they look to make it three straight home wins.
After just two goals and two points from their first four home games, Viktor Skrypnyk’s team have dragged themselves off the bottom and have scored six without reply in two home wins which has seen their fans breath a sigh of relief, as despite being 17th, could go as high as 11th with a victory on Saturday.
Former Wigan striker Franco Di Santo remains central to their performances, with six goals already this season, while the impressive Zlatko Junuzovic has contributed that many assists also so far – both players Korkut will have his eye firmly on.
Die Roten have improved on last years torrid away form, but it seems a case of one foot forward and two steps back for Korkut’s men – after three straight wins without conceding, they have now shipped 10 goals in three straight losses as dreams of a top six finish seem to be slipping away as they now stand four points away, and only six points from safety.
Korkut isn’t worrying yet though, stating at a press conference "We're not talking about a crisis yet, but we've got to turn things around. We've just got to work on minor details. The three defeats were unnecessary, but we've got to face up to the criticism. The time has come to pick up three points again.''
That won’t be an easy task – striker Artur Sobiech will be unavailable after suffering a partial rupture in his left leg, meaning he will unavailable until the new year, while main forward Joselu has just four goals this season, though has now scored in consecutive games.
The creativity is more than likely going to come from the Reds midfield, with the likes of Hiroshi Kiyotake and Lars Stindl likely to cause huge problems to a Bremen defence that no team has conceded more than this season.
Neutrals will be hoping for a match-up similar to last year’s 3-2 home victory, which has two penalties and a last minute winner, though Tayfun Korkut has his team drilled down a lot more this season, and will be looking for the same performances that saw them win away at Berlin and Dortmund earlier in the campaign.