For both Werder Bremen and Hertha Berlin, Saturday will be the curtain-raising fixture in their new Bundesliga campaigns.
The hosts will be looking to build upon their promising start to competitive football after they beat Regionalliga Nordost side Carl Zeiss Jena 2-0 in the opening round of the DFB Pokal.
Hertha are coming into their first full season with Bruno Labbadia as manager. Labbadia joined in time for the resumption of last term following the coronavirus hiatus, and in a matter of games, turned their fortunes from looming relegation to an outside shout at European competition.
However, he got this campaign off on the wrong foot, as Die Alte Dame were eliminated from the DFB Pokal by second-division side Eintracht Braunschweig, who never looked out of control of the game as they stormed to a 5-4 victory at home.
Hertha have not lost an opening day fixture in the six years since their return to top-flight football, winning four times and drawing twice.
Team news
Werder will be without star winger Milot Rashica as he continues to recover from an injury sustained earlier this month. Then there's Kevin Mohwald and Omar Toprak, who will also not feature at the weekend.
For Hertha, Santiago Ascacibar is unavailable in the midfield. The Argentine has played just four minutes of competitive football since May when he appeared in the first match back from the break, so his absnece will be concerning. Meanwhile, Javairo Dilrosun will have to miss out, while Karim Rekik is a doubt for the contest.
Predicted line-ups
Werder Bremen: Pavlenka; Gebre Selassie, Veljkovic, Moisander, Augustinsson; Eggestein, Erras, Klaassen; Sargent, Selke, Chong
Hertha Berlin: Schwolow; Zeefuik, Boyata, Torunarigha, Plattenhardt; Tousart, Darida; Lukebakio, Cunha, Mittelstadt; Piatek
Ones to watch
Josh Sargent scored in Bremen’s cup win last weekend and found the net in each of his last two meetings against Hertha. The American scored four times in the league for Werder last season, making up just under a tenth of all goals scored by his club, and he'll be looking to grab even more this upcoming campaign.
Dodi Lukebakio
Although not enough to get a result against Braunschweig, Dodi Lukebakio put in a stellar performance that saw him score either side of halftime. The 22-year-old has been an important part of the Labbadia regime, racking up a lot of gametime as well as scoring five goals in all competitions under the German.
Previous meetings
There's not been a definitive winner in any of the last three meetings between these two teams, with last season’s matches finishing 1-1 and 2-2 respectively. Bremen were the last ones to take all three points in this fixture when they triumphed 3-1 back in September of 2018.
You would have to look all the way back to the end of 2013 to find the last time Hertha got the better of Die Werderaner.
Where to watch on TV
The match kicks off at 14:30 BST on the Bet365 app.