Four's a crowd

Hanover 96 ended a series of eight games in a row without a win on Friday, squeaking by Nuremburg at home 1-0. Hanover's Mohammed Abdellaoue put his side ahead in 18th minute, and Nuremburg couldn't come up with an answer for the rest of the game.

The win keeps Hanover within striking distance of the top six in the Bundesliga, but the hotly-contested fight for first place gets underway on Saturday.

Tied trio

Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, two of three teams tied at the top of the table on 37 points, take on Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim, respectively. The matches are home games for Bayern and Dortmund, something that doesn't bode well for Dortmund: Hoffenheim have managed a draw each time they've played on the road against the defending Bundesliga champs. Wolfsburg, on the other hand, have never won on the road against Bayern.

The third team at the top of the table with 37 points is Schalke, who face Cologne on Sunday. Cologne will have the home field advantage in that match, although should Dortmund or Bayern stumble and leave the door open for Schalke to gain ground in the table, motivation will not be lacking for them to trounce Cologne again as they did in the first half of the season. Schalke won on the second match day 5-1.

Gladbach's momentum

Just one point behind the deadlocked top three in the table are Mönchengladbach, who are coming off a sensational 3-1 win against Bayern last week and face Stuttgart on the road in the last match of the weekend on Sunday.

While the top dogs in the Bundesliga all face mid-table opponents, Bayer Leverkusen, currently in fifth place, are in a direct battle for fourth with Werder Bremen on Saturday. Bremen host that match and are a point ahead of Leverkusen with 30 points.

Rounding out the rest of the 19th match day in the Bundesliga, Hertha Berlin host Hamburg, Kaiserslautern are on the road against Augsburg, and Mainz take on Freiburg at home. Those teams make up the bottom six of the table.

Author: Matt Zuvela (dpa, sid)
Editor: Chuck Penfold