Hamburg – Hoffenheim 07.12.2012

Hamburger SV aim to continue the good run of results and thus further close the gap behind the European places, whereas Hoffenheim hope new coach will help them put an end to the four-match losing run that saw the team slip into the relegation zone.

Having seriously reinforced the squad over the summer, Hamburger were expected to enter the race for European places, but they haven’t quite managed to enjoy a bright start to the season. The Red Shorts struggled to find some consistency, but produced a number of very good displays, hinting they would be able to fulfill their pre-season ambitions after all. Despite having players like Rafa van der Vaart, Marcel Jansen and Maximilian Beister on the sidelines, the team have been showing a lot of improvement of late, with 3-1 win over title contenders Schalke and one point brought from Wolfsburg seriously improving the atmosphere in the team. With Hamburg now set to host one of the weakest teams in the elite division, I am tempted to back the Red Shorts to win their third successive home game.

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Hoffenheim have been on the major downtrend ever since they impressed in their first ever Bundesliga campaign and the club have been flirting with relegation for quite a while now. The club signed a number of players in the summer transfer window, hoping to reinforce what was a pretty weak squad, but rather than improving the quality of the side, new players have mostly proved to be a destabilizing effect. With boss Markus Babbel struggling to get the maximum out of his players, Hoffenheim had a very disappointing start to the season and now find themselves in the relegation zone. Frank Kramer is the man given the task of improving the club’s fortunes, but ending a four-match losing run against in-form Hamburg could prove to be a difficult task. Team’s 1-1-5 away record only adds to the worries.