Out to trip up the league leaders

Previewing the home match against FC Bayern

Mitchell Weiser and Serge Gnabry challenge for the ball
Mitchell Weiser is a former Bayern player, while Serge Gnabry used to wear the green and white of Werder (photo: W.DE).
First Team
Friday, 05.05.2023 / 11:00

At 18:30 CEST on Saturday night (06.05.2023), SV Werder Bremen will welcome the league leaders FC Bayern München to the wohninvest WESERSTADION. The visitors have suffered setbacks to their season in recent weeks, being knocked out of both the DFB-Pokal and the Champions League, however, they are back on top of the Bundesliga after some topsy turvy matchdays that have left challengers Dortmund one point adrift. Werder have no intentions of handing over three important points in the race for the title though, as they could also prove decisive in SVW securing their top-flight status. 

Team news: Head coach Ole Werner has already been without Germany international Niclas Füllkrug in recent weeks, and persistent calf problems mean that he won’t be able to help out against Bayern either. Fellow striker Eren Dinkci is a doubt for the match as well. Dikeni Salifou and Felix Agu will definitely miss out. Agu underwent surgery on his patella tendon a few days ago and it’s already been confirmed that he will miss the rest of the season. Salifou, meanwhile, suffered a foot injury while playing for the U23s and is out for several weeks.

The boss’ thoughts on Saturday’s opponents: “Bayern München are a very versatile team and are very flexible in terms of their positioning when they’re in possession. It’s important that we prepare for certain elements of that, but also that we’re clear about how we want to play our own game. Nevertheless, Bayern have so much quality that individual players can make things happen on their own or spring a surprise, so you can’t have a solution for absolutely everything.”

The burden of sitting top

Anthony Jung celebrates his goal against FC Bayern
Anthony Jung grabbed an equaliser in the reverse fixture earlier this season (photo: W.DE).

Previous meetings: Werder have won 26 of the 111 Bundesliga meetings between the two sides, while there have been just as many draws and 59 Bayern victories. The last match-up also ended in a win for the league leaders, with Werder eventually going down 6-1 in Munich on matchday 14.

Historic clash: There have been plenty of memorable and even legendary games between SVW and FCB, with both sides celebrating famous wins, although it’s been the Munich outfit that have predominantly had the upper hand of late. Saturday’s meeting will be the 112th in the Bundesliga, more than any other fixture in German top-flight history.

The league leader’s curse: Bayern will travel to Bremen sitting top of the Bundesliga table, yet that mantle has been something of a burden rather than a blessing of late: over the last six matchdays, the team in first place has only managed to win one game (D2, L3). FCB and their title rivals Dortmund have dropped points to some of Werder’s direct rivals in the table during that run (Hoffenheim and Bochum).

Compiled by WERDER.DE and Opta

 

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