Bundesliga week 22

Friday:
Cologne v Arminia
Saturday:
Hertha v Monchengladbach
Dortmund v Hoffenheim
Bochum v Energie
Hannover v Leverkusen
Eintracht v Schalke
Sunday:
Bremen v Bayern
Karlsruhe v Stuttgart
Hamburg v Wolfsburg

New leaders Hamburg continue their title challenge at home to Wolfsburg looking good to remain in top spot for another week at least. Wolfsburg were completely undone by PSG in midweek in the UEFA Cup, a second 3-1 defeat ending their interest in that competition. Recent results have seen the Wolves rise up to sixth place and they should test Martin Jol's side, but Hamburg have that little bit of quality that Wolfsburg don't, especially in the continued absence of Grafite. Hoffenheim aim to get their stuttering challenge back on the rails at Dortmund with striker Chinedu Obasa and goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand both back from injury. That gives Ralf Rangnick a major boost in what promises to be a tough game. Dortmund are a capable side, but way too inconsistent. The outcome depends on which Dortmund turns up at the Westfalenstadion. Also up at the sharp end are Hertha, and they take on Gladbach who are beginning to show signs of being able to compete. The Berliners face a bit of a problem up front with Marko Pantelic out and Andriy Voronin struggling to be fit. Hertha have won five straight at home and this one should be comfortable for them.

Bayern go to Bremen with both sides in a bit of a form slump. Bremen did win through in the UEFA Cup on away goals over AC Milan in midweek with a 2-2 draw, Claudio Pizarro with both goals, but they are stinking up the Bundesliga of late. Bayern had the mercurial Franck Ribéry to thank for their sparkling 5-0 win in the Champions League and two goals to Luca Toni may just see the big Italian back to form. Both Jurgen Klinsmann and Thomas Schaff are under pressure and a win for either here will silence a few critics, for the time being at least. The loser should be preparing his CV. Stuttgart are the best value team in the best value league in Europe at the moment, as they played out their third consecutive six-goal thriller last week. They take their free-scoring - and free-conceding - ways to Karlsruhe this week with their hosts dropping into the bottom three last week. With Mario Gomez in top form, Stuttgart have the goals, and, while the defence is letting them down, Karlsruhe aren't in the best position to take advantage.

Hannover are on the slide and they have a tough game at home to Leverkusen, needing a win to keep the pressure on at the top. Bruno Labbadia's side are frustrating in their inconsistency and they need to start stringing wins together if they're to be considered as true challengers. The big game at the bottom sees Energie go to Bochum with the home side two points behind the visitors. It's all getting a bit fraught down there and neither side has any real form to call on. That promises to be exceptionally tight and nervous. Cologne host Bielefeld in the Friday game and their win over Bayern last week has helped Cologne into a position of relative safety and they can heap more misery on a poor Arminia side here.

Finally, Schalke go to Frankfurt to face Eintracht. With both sides playing rotten football with any flair, excitement or passion totally taken out of the gameplan, this will be rubbish.