Following the latest disappointing run, Hamburg are back in the danger zone and they now hope to defeat their direct relegation rivals to all but secure Bundesliga survival.

Werder Bremen are now just two points adrift of safety and a win at Imtech Arena would probably see them leave the bottom three.

Having spent last few years fighting tooth and nail to remain the only German side never to have been relegated from the Bundesliga, Hamburg hoped for an uneventful season this term.

And things seemed to be going in that direction after the bright start to the season, but the Red Shorts eventually managed to ruin everything they had worked for.

The run of four defeats in last five league games saw Hamburg slip to 12th in the overall standings and they are now just two points above the relegation play-off positions.

And with two of those losses achieved against direct relegation rivals, HSV need to be wary of revived Werder ahead of their relegation six-pointer.

Hamburg coach Bruno Labbadia faces serious selection problems considering that Albin Ekdal and Nicolai Muller are almost certain to miss out.

Veteran Jaroslav Drobny will deputise for the suspended Rene Adler, whereas the boss is sweating over the fitness of key attacker Pierre-Michel Lasogga.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Drobny – Sakai, Cleber Reis, Spahic, Ostrzolek – Kacar, Holtby – Gregoritsch, Hunt, Ilicevic – Lasogga.

Werder Bremen have been fighting for their lives throughout the current season and they still face an uphill battle to survive.

The Weserstadion outfit have done surprisingly well in the DFB Pokal, reaching the semi-finals, where they were eliminated by Bayern Munich.

They also managed to record four league wins since the campaign resumed, oddly enough beating some of Germany’s strongest sides, while largely struggling against relegation rivals.

Werder Bremen will need to reverse the trend against Hamburg if they want to keep their survival hopes alive and they can be backed at 2.95 (39/20) to win this game.

There have been no fresh injury worries for coach Viktor Skripnik, but he is, nonetheless, expected to make some changes to the team that faced Bayern Munich in midweek.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Wiedwald – Gebre Selassie, Galvez, Vestergaard, S. Garcia – Fritz, Grillitsch – Yatabare, Junuzovic, Bartels – Pizarro.