Leaders Hertha face big test, Wagner under pressure, Nürnberg aim to halt winless run: Five things to look out for on 2. Bundesliga Matchday 10
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The in-form Kaiserslautern side will host runaway league leaders Hertha BSC in the standout fixture of matchday 10 in 2. Bundesliga. Meanwhile, Nürnberg and Hannover are hoping to end their barren runs at both ends of the standings.
Promotion hopefuls Kaiserslautern and Hertha lock horns
Kaiserslautern's astonishing defensive record continued on Wednesday night as Torsten Lieberknecht's side kept their ninth clean sheet of the season in a 2-0 cup win against fellow 2. Bundesliga side Hannover. Meanwhile, Hertha BSC beat Regionalliga side Jeddeloh II by the same scoreline with early second-half goals.
The two teams will now meet in the biggest match of the 2. Bundesliga weekend. The last three head-to-head league games only produced three goals, although Hertha did beat Kaiserslautern 6-1 in the DFB-Pokal last season. This will be the season's first big test for the runaway league leaders as the hosts have only conceded four goals so far in all competitions.
Magdeburg travel to bottom-placed Darmstadt after indifferent results
Magdeburg are responsible for three of the goals Kaiserslautern conceded this term as a 6-1 home defeat to Eintracht Braunschweig in the opening matchday was an exception to their superb start to the campaign. FCM also suffered a defeat by the same scoreline in the cup on Wednesday, but it was against the Rekordmeister FC Bayern.
Patrik Sander’s side, who were in the right side of Karlsruhe’s 6-1 thrashing on matchday 9, still showed glimpses of their attack-minded playing style in front of over 10,000 traveling fans. Magdeburg will next visit Darmstadt, who knocked out Bundesliga outfit Elversberg from the DFB-Pokal, on Saturday.
Head-to-head games in relegation battle
Florian Kohfeldt's men sit bottom of the league, but they have the same number of points to 13th-placed Holstein Kiel. As such, there are already multiple six-pointers to look forward to in the wrong end of the 2. Bundesliga standings.
The gap between Darmstadt and seventh-placed St. Pauli is only four points after nine matchdays. By the time of November's international break, the table could look very different.
Sandro Wagner searches first win as Hannover boss
Hannover used the last international break to replace Christian Titz with Sandro Wagner, but they could be tempted to make another drastic decision if the former FC Bayern and Germany striker failed to earn his first win against either Dynamo Dresden or Heidenheim.
Sunday's game against the team that booked their place in the DFB-Pokal Round of 16 would be crucial as both clubs will start the match on eight points. Wagner stressed he liked what he sees from his team in the cup defeat to Kaiserslautern, which meant he lost three of his first four games in charge of the club.
Nürnberg seek first win in five
Nürnberg are also winless since the return of the league from October's international break, but Miroslav Klose's side are still in the second place. Der Club will face last season's Bundesliga club St. Pauli after their first two defeats of the season in matter of days against Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen.
