The north derby between Hamburger SV and SV Werder Bremen is the top game of the 17th round in the German Bundesliga. Both clubs have at the moment 28 points and are in the league table on places 5 and 4. The last game before the winter break is for both very important, because the derby winner will hold the contact to the lead.
Hamburger SV played a nearly perfect first season leg. They were unbeaten in the first ten rounds and for many rounds league leader. But then their run was stopped due to some injured key players. Between round 11 and round 15 they lost the home games against Mönchengladbach (2-3) and Bochum (0-1) and played 3-times drawn. Therewith HSV fallen back in the table. The last round brought a 4-0 away win against FC Nürnberg, the first Bundesliga victory since 4 October, 2009. In the UEFA Europa League Hamburg has qualified as well as Werder Bremen for the Round of 32. On Thursday Hamburg lost the last group game at Hapoel Tel-Aviv with 0-1 and therewith also group rank 1.
SV Werder Bremen´s run was stopped last round by FC Schalke 04. Bremen lost at home 0-2. It was the first defeat since 23 regular games and at the same time the second defeat in the running Bundesliga season. The first defeat was on Matchday 1 with 2-3 against Eintracht Frankfurt. In away games they are unbeaten. Werder won 4 of their 8 Bundesliga away matches (4 wins, 4 draws) and 3 of their 4 Europa League away games (3 wins, 1 draw). On Wednesday Werder Bremen beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 and finished their group as winner. The goals scored Pizarro, Naldo and Rosenberg.
The match on Sunday is the 91st derby between Hamburger SV and SV Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. Hamburg won 28, Bremen won 30 and 32 derbies ended drawn. At home HSV have a positive statistic (19 wins, 17 draws, 9 defeats)
Hamburger SV vs SV Werder Bremen
German Bundesliga: Matchday 17
Sunday, 20.12.2009, 3:30 pm CET
Hamburg, HSH-Nordbank-Arena
Possible line-ups:
HSV: Rost - Demel, Boateng, Mathijsen, Aogo - Rincon (Trochowski), Jarolim, Elia, Jansen - Petric, Torun
SVW: Wiese - Prödl, Mertesacker, Naldo, Pasanen - Frings, D. Jensen, Hunt, Özil - Pizarro, Rosenberg
Injured:
Hamburger SV: Alex Silva, Bastian Reinhardt, Collin Benjamin, Miroslav Stepanek, Romeo Castelen, Zé Roberto, Paolo Guerrero
Werder Bremen: Sebastian Boenisch, Clemens Fritz, Christian Vander, Kevin Artmann, José-Alex Ikeng, Philipp Bargfrede
My tip: The derby is for both clubs a very important game. Bremen played their Europa League game yet on Wednesday and has one day more to regenerate. This can be a slight advantage but I bet on a draw.
The best odd for tip X you find at Tipico with 3.30
