To finish off the first half of the Bundesliga season, Hertha BSC will play hosts to Mainz 05 at the Olympiastadion. Should Pál Dárdai's squad get their fourth consecutive win in all competitions, they will end 2015 in the third spot in the table and would be five points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen. Mainz themselves have not had a bad start to the season either, sitting in eighth. If Die Nullfünfer upset the odds and come away with the three points, they will be in the last Europa League spot, climbing two places. 

Form

Mainz should be the more rested of the two sides as they did not have a midweek Pokal clash. However, their form recently has been pretty good dropping six points in three draws out of their last six matches overall. Their best result recently came against Wolfsburg in the early part of November when they downed them at the Coface Arena by a 2-0 score; Pablo de Blasis and Yunus Malli found the back of the net. 

Last time out, Stuttgart held Martin Schmidt's men to a scoreless draw on Friday night in what was an exciting match that lacked the goals it deserved. There were a whopping 22 total shots between the sides but most of them did not trouble either shot stopper. 

Hertha brush side second division club Nürnberg during the middle of the week to advance to the next round of the German Cup, winning 0-2 with Vladimir Darida and John Anthony Brooks finding the back of the net in either half. They had another win on the road the weekend before, going to the newly promoted Darmstadt 98. At the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor, Berlin ran away with the affair scoring two goals on either side of the halftime interval capped off by a Vedad Ibišević brace who has found his form again in recent weeks.

Key Players

Ibišević has had an auspicious start to his season with Hertha; joining the club late in the transfer window and taking a while to gel with his teammates. While the Bosnian international has only six times this season, three braces, he looked the best in the last league match. In his latest feature in the starting eleven, he scored twice against Darmstadt: once by poking in a Mitchell Weiser cross with his left foot and he smashed Brooks' free header in with his right following a corner. 

Yunus Malli is by far Mainz's biggest threat in the final third of the pitch. The Turkish international leads his side in goals with eight scored in 16 appearances, which is one more than Yoshinori Mutō who is playing his first season in Europe. But Malli is much more than just getting goals. His technical ability is fantastic and is able to pick out teammates from out of nowhere with his vision.

Prediction

Hertha should have no issue getting by Mainz on Sunday as they have more quality in each and every position. Their defense, led by John Anthony Brooks, has been stellar as well giving up only four goals in the last five matches in all competitions. Salomon Kalou, Vladimir Darida and Genki Haraguchi should threaten Mainz' back four each time down the pitch which should eventually result in a goal or two before the 90 minutes are gone.