Bremen vs. Darmstadt preview: Can Werder continue impressive run?
Lowly Darmstadt travel to Bremen, who’s excellent run of form has seen them rise into contention for the European places.
Bremen
Werder have won four of their last five games, including a shocking victory over Bayern a few weeks ago. They haven’t needed to score a crazy amount of goals either, as their defense has allowed only four goals in the first six games of the calendar year.
They have very good odds to keep up this form with only one out of their next five games against an opponent in the top half of the table. The only concern is that the defensive injuries are piling up, as trainer Ole Werner confirmed that Cimo-Patric Röcker and Anthony Jung will likely see playing time at the back.
Werner stated, "Darmstadt are a very tricky team to play against. They adapt well to situations and find good solutions to problems. However, we want to stay organized throughout, and ultimately come away with all three points."
Team News
Niklas Stark, Marco Friedl, Milos Veljkovic, Amos Pieper, Isak Hansen-Aarøen and Spyros Angelidis are out. Werder wildly have six players that are one yellow card away from receiving a suspension.
It was confirmed on Thursday that Clemens Fritz will take over for Frank Baumann as the new sporting director this summer.
Darmstadt
Darmstadt lost to 10-man Stuttgart last week and haven’t won a league match since early October. It’s not looking good for the Lilies, who seem destined for a trip back to the second division unless results start coming thick and fast.
They actually defeated Bremen in their first meeting of the season 4-2 and will be hoping to rekindle some of those memories this Saturday. Unlike their relegation rivals, Darmstadt have found some success offensively, but need their league-worst defense to step up and save their season.
In his presser, Torsten Lieberknecht said, "You never get the feeling during the week that the bottom team in the table is training here. It's unbelievable. The team is constantly realigning itself and training with great meticulousness and energy. There's a good atmosphere with full focus."
Team News
Clemens Riedel, Fraser Hornby and Braydon Manu are unavailable. Mathias Honsak has returned to team training and will be a squad option.