The 1-0 cup win over Hoffenheim in midweek has left the team in high spirits, but Werder don’t want the feeling to come to an end on Sunday. It might be a new game when FC Augsburg come to town, but the aim remains the same - to get a win at home. The match kicks off at 15:30 CET.
Potential double-anniversary for Bartels: If Werder forward Fin Bartels gets a run out against FCA on Sunday, it will be his 100th Bundesliga game for the Green-Whites since his move to the club in 2014. He’s scored 21 goals in that time. Before his move to Bremen, Bartels already made 50 Bundesliga appearances for Hansa Rostock and FC St. Pauli, which means the game against Augsburg could also be his 150th top flight appearance overall.
The last game: FCA are quite a new face in Bundesliga football, but they shouldn’t be underestimated. The Swabians caught Werder by surprise in their previous two meetings for example, after coming out on top in both games by one goal. The first game ended 2-1, while the second game was a five goal thriller which Werder came out on the wrong side of 3-2. Werder’s last win in this fixture came in the season before last. Claudio Pizarro and Fin Bartels were the goalscorers in a 2-1 victory.
Hoping for a birthday present: Werder’s sporting director Frank Baumann will celebrate his 42nd birthday on Sunday. What better present than a Bundesliga victory for the ex-captain?
Thoughts on the game: “We have to work hard on Sunday. It’s clear that this is a new game and we’re not expecting it to be easy,” says Baumann ahead of the important home game against FC Augsburg. Alexander Nouri is also expecting a tough task. “Augsburg play extremely fast on the counter-attack and can hurt you in a variety of different ways, as they’ve already shown this season. It’s important that we don’t leave ourselves vulnerable by being careless in attack,” said the Werder head coach in his press conference on Friday.
Man-marking: It’s important that Werder are aggressive in all situations against FCA. One of their new signings will need to be kept in check in particular thanks to his goalscoring history against the Green-Whites. The player? Michael Gregoritsch. The striker has scored four goals against Bremen in his career to date, all coming while in a Hamburg shirt. The Austrian is in good form at the moment as well, after netting in two straight games for Augsburg. The 23-year-old has never scored in three straight games, which is a statistic that Werder will be looking to maintain.
A refereeing debut: For the first time on Sunday, Sören Storks will be the man with the whistle for a Werder game. This is the 28-year-old’s first season as a Bundesliga referee, after making his top flight debut in August. His only game to date was the Borussia Mönchengladbach’s 2-0 win over VfB Stuttgart.
