December 15th, 2009 by Phil Lythell

This weekend sees the last set of fixtures before the Bundesliga breaks up for Christmas.

The most intriguing match on the coupon sees fifth place play fourth as Hamburg face Werder Bremen in the Nordbank Arena.

The match is a re-run of last season’s UEFA Cup semi-final in which Werder Bremen prevailed courtesy of Claudio Pizarro though the subsequent supension of midfield maestro Diego meant that Werder were overturned by Shakhtar Donetsk in the final.

The game should not lack for excitement as it pits two of three most potent attacking teams against each other. Hamburg’s threat comes from all over the field with Mladen Petric and Paolo Guerrero striking from the front while Eljero Elia and veteran Ze Roberto chip in from midfield.

Werder, meanwhile, can call on Pizarro as well as Aaron Hunt, Hugo Almeida and the midfield trickery of Mesut Ozil to cause defences problems.

Neither team has been in particularly good form of late with each recording just one win from their last five matches.

Both teams sit on 28 points and while a win for one team would obviously open up a three point gap to the other, the psychological boost it would provide to the victors before they signed off for their four-week break would be immeasurable.

It would also keep them right in the title race with leaders Bayer Leverkusen currently just four points ahead of them both.

The Bundesliga is as open as ever and once again has a rightful claim to be the most competitive league in Europe.

Tickets for Hamburg v Werder Bremen are still available via this website and are priced from £44.

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