Werder Bremen vs Hamburg preview: The Nordderby returns with a lot on the line

Then again, Die Werderaner’s focus will be on taking care of their own business. While it’s already a must-win in terms of the league standings, it will also be a must-win game for the club’s pride. They lost the reverse-fixture in Hamburg, and the defeat was especially frustrating given how things went down, blowing a 1-0 lead and then conceding the winner relatively late on.

It’s one thing to lose in the Nordderby on the road, but to lose at home would be a hammer blow for Bremen.

Team news

The Green-Whites are still without a number of injured players, like Mitchell Weiser, Julian Malitini, Keke Topp and Karl Hein, while Marco Friedl is suspended. A few others are also questionable, with the statuses of Maximilian Wöber, Jens Stage, and Jovan Milosevic still up in the air. 

Predicted lineups

Backhaus, Agu, Pieper, Coulibaly, Deman, Puertas, Lynen, Stage, Schmid, Milosevic, Mbangula

Hamburg

When Hamburg defeated Wolfsburg on the road a month ago, it seemed like they had practically secured safety. However, recent results have kept them in the picture.

They’ve failed to win any of their last four. They tied Köln and Augsburg at home, while losing away to European contenders Borussia Dortmund and VfB Stuttgart. While none of those scores are horrific, the lack of points has prevented them from officially avoiding the drop zone.

Die Rothosen go into this game three points ahead of their bitter rivals, owning a better goal differential as well. That puts them six clear of the relegation-playoff. With five games to go, that should be too big of a safety net to screw up, but you never quite know in the Bundesliga.

A few more losses here, some wins for the teams below them, and Hamburg could very easily set themselves up for a nervy final few weeks. If they want to avoid all that, they could simply pick up a win here on derby day. It would be especially sweet, since it’d mean victories in both Nordderby fixtures this season. 

A big storyline for them this weekend will be the health of star defender Luka Vušković. The Tottenham loanee missed his team’s last game through a knee injury, and he’s not fully recovered from it. That has led to a tough situation.

Hamburg don’t necessarily need a win on this occasion, and keeping him away for an extra week so he can come back to full fitness is probably the smart decision. However, he will likely be desperate to play in the derby, and management will want him involved. Then again, this might not be their call to make.

His transfer value has skyrocketed, and it’s almost certain that Vušković will leave Tottenham in the summer for a massive transfer fee. Would Spurs want their star asset risked like this, which could cost them an insane amount of money down the line? They might make the decision and ask for the center-back to remain on the sidelines.

Whether or not he ends up featuring, HSV will still give everything they have to shut down their noisy neighbors one more time this campaign.

Team news

Along with Vušković, Hamburg could also be without the services of Albert Sambi Lokonga, Jean-Luc Dompé, Bakery Jatta, Alexander Røssing, and Yussuf Poulsen.

Predicted lineups

Fernandes, Capaldo, Torunarigha, Vušković, Mikelbrencis, Elfadli, Rember, Balde, Viera, Konigsdorffer, Glatzel