FC St. Pauli

With six rounds of matches left to play, every weekend will see at least one battle between two sides with their sights set on the Bundesliga. The remaining fixture list features ten promotion clashes in total, including three on this super Saturday. As well our home game against Bremen, Schalke go head-to-head with Heidenheim, while Nürnberg entertain Darmstadt. "It's peak excitement in the second division, what could be better?" said head coach Timo Schultz on the tight promotion race. Another seven matchups between the leading sides are still to come, with sixth-placed Hamburg the only side spared a meeting with one of their fellow contenders.

The Boys in Brown will lock horns with four of the top seven before the season comes to an end, with home games against Darmstadt and Nürnberg and a trip to Schalke lined up after Saturday's game against Bremen. Werder had something of a rollercoaster start under former coach Markus Anfang but have excelled since the arrival of Ole Werner, taking 32 out of a possible 39 points since early December on a run that has seen them climb from tenth place to first. After seven successive wins under their new boss it was bottom side Ingolstadt, of all teams, who brought Werner's 100% record to an end with a 1-1 draw in Bremen. The Green-and-Whites continued to pick up points for fun, however, despite suffering their first reverse of the new era in a 2-1 defeat at Heidenheim. Like fellow contenders Schalke, Nürnberg and Darmstadt, both Bremen and the Boys in Brown have taken 10 points from their last five games, an indication of how tight things are at the top.

It's a tough ask for the Schultz XI, of that there is no doubt, but they will take heart from their own performances to date. The Boys in Brown have the best home record in the second division for one thing, consisting of ten wins, two draws and just a solitary defeat. They also have the best defensive home record, conceding just 13 times at the Millerntor, and are the second best attacking team in home matches with 31 goals scored. Their return against the other promotion-chasing sides is worth a mention, too. Of the eight games played so far against the teams currently occupying places one to seven, Schultz's charges have won five, drawn one and lost two.

In the first of four consecutive meetings against promotion rivals three weeks ago the Boys in Brown beat Heidenheim 1-0 to demonstrate their credentials. The Millerntor will be sold out for the first time since early March 2020, and with the backing of the crowd they will be looking to shrug off last week's 1-0 defeat at Rostock and produce an all-out performance of the kind needed to take three points against Werder.

Photos: Witters