FC St. Pauli

Olaf Janßen's side went into the first international break of the season on a high thanks to three late points against Heidenheim just over two weeks ago. Since then they have worked extremely hard in preparation for the tasks to come yet have had to deal with the loss of more players to injury. After the recent loss of Christopher Buchtmann and Aziz Bouhaddouz (both ankle ligament tears) and Luca Zander (blow to the thigh), no less than nine members of the first-team squad are unavailable for the trip to Nürnberg.

No one is moaning in the St. Pauli camp, however, as a confident Janßen was keen to point out on Sunday. "Every player has my full confidence," he said. "From the first day of training they've shown they are ready and determined to break into the team. I'm sure we'll push Nürnberg to the limit."

The Boys in Brown are facing a difficult injury situation but they have to accept it and make the best of it. "It's now down to the lads who have supposedly been second choice so far to take on the tasks and perform the way they've been doing in training," stressed captain Bernd Nehrig in the run-up to the game. "We're happy to have enough options. The lads are raring to go and have the quality to replace the players who are out injured."

Janßen described the game at Nürnberg, who have also taken seven points from their first four games, as a "super challenge". After a poor second part of last season the "Club" are much improved this term, prompting FCSP striker Sami Allagui to name them among his favourites for promotion. Michael Köllner's team, who started with wins over Kaiserslautern (3-0) and Regensburg (1-0) and then earned a point in a 2-2 draw with Union Berlin, suffered a setback last time out, however, slipping to their first defeat of the season at Aue (3-1).

Nürnberg will be going all out to make amends for that reverse and return to winning ways, though Janßen's charges will do all they can to stop them, of course. Despite the loss of Buchtmann, Bouhaddouz and Co., they will go all out to secure at least a point on Monday evening.

In the first meeting of the two sides last season a goal from Christopher Buchtmann earned the Boys in Brown a point in a 1-1 draw at the Millerntor, while a Bouhaddouz brace gave them a 2-0 win in the return at Nürnberg in April. "If everyone plays to their potential on Monday evening, we will have opportunities to score," said Nehrig. "And then someone other than Buchti or Aziz will be up front and get the goal." That's the way we like it!

Photo: Witters