Match Preview vs Werder Bremen

Opponents Focus: 

SV Werder Bremen have now begun to settle into life in the 2. Bundesliga after a big summer of change in at the Weserstadion. The recent relegated side made their managerial change bringing in Markus Anfang from SV Darmstadt, a trainer who knows the league well after playing a large part of winning the 2. Bundesliga with 1.FC Köln in the 2018/19. 

Many in’s and out’s in terms of players as well in Bremen with big moves away for key players like Josh Sargent, Ludwig Augustinsson, Milot Raschica and Maximillian Eggestein. When players go out, a new crop are expected to make that step into the first team with Marvin Ducksch and Mitchell Weiser, the most notable new signings.

The Match Facts

109th North derby
 
For the 109th time Hamburger SV and SV Werder Bremen have faced each other in a league match since the introduction of the Bundesliga in 1963. In the 1st Bundesliga, only the duel between FC Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen (110 times) has been more frequent. Now, for the first time in the 2nd Bundesliga, there will be a northern derby. In the overall balance, Werder are just ahead with 39 wins to 34 and 35 draws. In terms of goal difference, the Reds have a razor-thin lead with 158:157.    

1st vs Last in the running statistics   

If you look at the current running statistics of the 2nd Bundesliga, HSV will be the league leaders when they visit the bottom team on Saturday. The Red Shorts have already covered 710.58 kilometres this season, while the Green-Whites have only covered 665.99, which is around 45 kilometres less. No 2. Bundesliga  team has covered less distance.

Time for new stories
   
The Nordderby experience in both squads is limited. For HSV, only winger Bakery Jatta (two appearances), keeper Tom Mickel (twice not in the squad) and Stephan Ambrosius (once not in the squad) have experienced the Nordderby, for SVW it is centre-back Milos Veljkovic (four games) and goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka (two). So it is time to write new stories, as Bakery Jatta explained in an HSV.de interview during the week.