Borussia Monchengladbach will host Werder Bremen with both teams underwhelming this season. Before the Christmas break begins next week, both clubs, who are in the bottom half of the standings going into the weekend, will try to catch up to the European spots.
Preview (Borussia Monchengladbach vs. Werder Bremen)
Gladbach was knocked back to earth over the weekend, following the excitement of unexpectedly making it to the DFB-Pokal quarterfinals last week. They fell behind 3-0 before a late rally by Alassane Plea gave them hope. They have made significant progress since winning just one of their first eight Bundesliga games. This result is simply one more thing that adds to their disappointing start. Gladbach’s home form is to blame for that; they have won five straight games at home. It is a record for the team that dates back more than four years.
They progressed through the Pokal with two victories at Borussia-Park, defeating Wolfsburg and Heidenheim. They are the two teams they have already defeated in the league this year. With so many of the major guns already out, the fans will be anticipating a semi-final place in Pokal. They have a quarter-final matchup against third-tier giant-killers Saarbrucken. Even with their erratic start to the season, they are currently only seven points behind the European spot. They still have a difficult trip to Eintracht Frankfurt before the break.
With 14 games played, no team outside the top four has scored more goals than them. The only team with a poorer defensive record is Darmstadt, who are at the bottom of the table. Werder Bremen, who are now experiencing their worst run of away results in six years. They will find it difficult to overcome a team with such a strong home record. Bremen has just managed one point in their past nine Bundesliga away games. They inevitably occupy the bottom spot in terms of away point totals. Despite that unsettling record, a victory would propel Ole Werner’s team into the top half. It would move them two points clear of Gladbach and maybe ahead of Augsburg in ninth.
Team News
The strikers for Gladbach, Robin Hack, and Tomas Cvancara, are both questionable for this match due to illnesses they received last week. Jordan Siebatcheu, Tony Jantschke, and Ko Itakura are all expected to miss out on defense. All three may be back in time for the last league game before the winter break. However, Jonas Omlin, the goalkeeper, won’t be back until the club starts play in 2024, thus Moritz Nicolas will keep filling in. Additionally sidelined until the new year is Hannes Wolf, while key midfielder Manu Kone is questionable following his absence from their loss to Union Berlin the previous weekend.
Prior to this away match, Bremen is also without a significant number of players, as Michael Zetterer and Marco Friedl are both sidelined until January. Leonardo Bittencourt and Milos Veljkovic are getting closer to making a comeback, but the break might arrive too soon for them to do so. Since they haven’t played yet this season, Nicolai Rapp and Leon Opitz are still sidelined, and Amos Pieper will miss the majority of it due to a recent ankle break.
Borussia Monchengladbach 3-1 Werder Bremen
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