Die Schwaben at AWD-Arena

The great start of the Rückrunde, with a 1-0 defeat of Schalke 04 was offset with last weeks loss to Energie Cottbus, sending Hannover 96 to thirteenth in the table and only four points about relegation. At this stage, longer-term goals of finishing in the top eight need to be put aside as points away from the drop zone are much needed.

However on Saturday Stuttgart arrive at AWD-Arena storming forward on a five match winning streak including last weeks 4-2 defeat of Leverkusen and one of the hottest clubs in the Bundesliga. Since Markus Babbel took over the coaching duties, Stuttgart has yet to lose but playing with a lightning fast attack and aggressive defending. With the leadership of Jens Lehmann, VfB is climbing up the table fast and Hannover’s home fortress will be put to the test.

Hannover’s injury problems are continuing to grow as they are now facing eleven absences out of Dieter Hecking’s lineup choices. Out for the match are Jan Rosenthal, Valérien Ismaël, Vinícius, Steven Cherundolo, Leon Andreasen, Altin Lala, Gaëtan Krebs, Chavdar Yankov, Sal Zizzo, Jan Schlaudraff and possibly worst of all the new additions to the injury list, Jiří Štajner. With his injury 96 is down now to only two proven strikers, Mikael Forssell and Mike Hanke and will likely need to use Michael Tarnat in the midfield. Given the injury situation both Bastian Schulz and Ferhat Bıkmaz from the reserves could be called upon as well.

One of the unique twists to the match is that it will likely feature two of the oldest members of the Bundesliga, Michael Tarnat and Jens Lehmann, who are both thirty-nine years of age.

Category: Hannover Team News