Gladbach and Hamburg harbour contrasting long-term objectives but a shared immediate goal
Gladbach and Hamburg harbour contrasting long-term objectives but a shared immediate goal

Gladbach and Hamburg eye winning return on Sunday

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Mönchengladbach - Borussia Mönchengladbach will look to get straight back on the winning horse at home to lowly Hamburger SV on Sunday (kick-off 14:30 BST/ 15:30 CEST).

Neck-and-neck

The Foals' two-match winning run came to an end at Eintracht Frankfurt in midweek, leaving Lucien Favre's men clinging to sixth place by the skin of their teeth ahead of Matchday 28's round of fixtures.

"To be honest, I'm only really taking each game as it comes," explained Gladbach's head coach in light of his side's relatively hot and cold run of results since the turn of the year. "There's not much point bothering about other things. We're doing just fine concentrating on the game against Hamburg."

Topping Favre's list of apparently only peripheral concerns is the race for Europe, with Gladbach currently trailing fourth-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen by five points and facing stiff competition for a place in the UEFA Europa League from the likes of VfL Wolfsburg and 1. FSV Mainz 05. Still, it's a welcome contrast to Hamburg's tumultuous exertions at the foot of the Bundesliga ladder.

'A tough game'


HSV have spent the last two weeks in the bottom three and fell further off the pace earlier in the week after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to SC Freiburg. "We know the situation well from our own experiences," recalled Favre, thinking back to a time when Gladbach needed a play-off win over VfL Bochum to stave off relegation to the second tier in 2010/11. "That's why we know that it'll be a tough game against Hamburg."

Mirko Slomka's side have won just twice on their travels this term and know all too well that picking up points away from the comforts of the Imtech Arena could have a massive say in the final standings. To that end, the former Hannover 96 tactician has already called on the support of some 5,000 travelling supporters to help his side's cause on Sunday afternoon.

Champing at the bit


"We've got to treat it like a home game," the 46-year-old affirmed. "5,000 Hamburg fans will be there, but it'll sound more like 15,000. Hopefully we'll be able to get our hands on some extra tickets. We've got to knuckle down every week, but certainly don't have anything to fear in Gladbach."

One man certain to make the 581-kilometre trip along the A1 is dead-ball sensation . The HSV favourite missed out against Freiburg through suspension and is desperate to make up for lost time at Borussia Park. "I've got a point to prove," the 20-year-old admitted. "In recent games the team have given it everything until the last. We want to take something from the game."

Possible line-ups:

Gladbach: ter Stegen - Korb, Stranzl, Alvaro Dominguez, Daems - Jantschke, Kramer - Herrmann, Arango - Raffael, M. Kruse

Hamburg: Adler - Diekmeier, Djourou, Mancienne, Westermann - Jiracek, Rincon, Arslan, Calhanoglu - van der Vaart - Lasogga

Christopher Mayer-Lodge

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