SV Werder Bremen welcome Hamburger SV to the Weserstadion on Saturday afternoon for the 147th installment of the Nordderby, with the two teams separated by five points and four places in the bottom half of the Bundesliga table.

Coming into the fixture off the back of largely contrasting results, the stakes will be still be high despite the early stage of the season as the two sides look to establish a run of form that can propel them up the standings.

Recent form

Werder may have a home advantage in this fixture, but Hamburg will be the favourites going off their recent results.

The visitors this week come into the game off the back of a terrific 3-1 win at home to Borussia Dortmund, condemning Thomas Tuchel's side to just their second defeat of the season - their only other one coming against reigning champions Bayern Munich.

Hamburg managed to perfectly deal with the Dortmund goal machine in the first match day back after the international break, and will hope that result, which was just their second win since September, can prove a catalyst for some good form.

As for Werder, their return from the two-week break was a nightmare as they were crushed 6-0 by VfL Wolfsburg. The defeat saw their goal difference take a huge hit, but their confidence is likely to have done the same too after such a massive loss.

The two results combined mean that Hamburg are likely to come into the derby in much higher spirits, and they will look to make that count.

Previous meetings

The Nordderby has been a regular fixture in the German football season for many years, with this the 101st time it will be played in the Bundesliga.

Werder lead the head-to-head with 36 wins to Hamburg's 31, whilst there have been 33 draws. However, the last time the spoils were shared was back in the 2009-10 season, with Claudio Pizarro and Ruud van Nistelrooy both on the scoresheet in the 1-1 result, and given each side's recent results, a win one way or the other will be expected again.

Werder have been the more successful in the fixture in recent seasons, winning five of their last six meetings with Hamburg. Two of those wins came last season - a 2-0 result away from home coming courtesy of a brace from Nils Petersen, whilst Zlatko Junuzovic's strike in the reverse ensured they did the double over their local rivals.

Hamburg will hope last week's result can give them enough momentum to defy their recent form in this fixture though and allow them to secure a big win in the derby.

Team news

Both teams come into this game missing key personnel through injury, Werder without five players and Hamburg three.

The hosts are missing goalkeeper Raphael Wolf and have been since September, and the same goes for summer signing Aron Johannsson and attacking midfielder Ozkan Yildirim.

Ulysses Garcia is out with a knee injury picked up earlier this month, whilst Clemens Fritz is suspended for this match after picking up one too many bookings.

One would expect plenty of changes to the Werder team this week too, with them having been hammered last time out, and that could pave the way for Pizarro to start for the hosts, who is only one goal away from becoming the joint top-scorer in this fixture.

As for the visitors, they are a little short in defence themselves, with Dennis Diekmeier and Emir Spahic both sidelined with ligament damage sustained earlier this month.

Albin Ekdal, on the other hand, has been out since October with an ankle injury and remains on the treatment table.

However, each manager will have to cope with these setbacks as they look to name a team that can ensure the fans leave with bragging rights and the team with all three points on Saturday afternoon.