German league leaders Werder Bremen host Hanover tomorrow in their first match after the winter break with coach Thomas Schaaf hopeful German international Miroslav Klose will make the line-up.
Werder Bremen's 4-2 away victory and then 5-0 win at home in their last matches against Hanover augur well for the northern port club.
And Schaaf is hopeful striker Klose will be back to full fitness.
"We will have to see how his body holds up but I'm hoping for something positive," he told the club's official Web site. "It would be very important to us if he could play and it's looking really good."
The Weser stadium is already sold-out for tomorrow's game.
And Bremen skipper Frank Baumann, who had been out of action for two months through injury, had a successful run out against Mattersburg two weeks ago and has been in full training since.
"He [Baumann] was out for a long time and will need a certain period to acclimatize to get back to complete fitness, but he is very close to being back," Schaaf said.
Though Werder outclassed Hanover in their previous two games, Schaaf said the results did not do enough justice to Hanover.
"I'm not thinking about the last home game. We have to deal with the present," Schaaf added. "Perhaps they will play with a lone striker and a deep midfield behind which would not make it easy for us."
Hanover had an up-and-down time in the first half of the season.
In their first three matches, the Reds, led by Peter Neururer, lost 4-2 to Bremen and had two other defeats leaving them at the bottom of the table which resulted in Neururer's departure.
Hanover then took on former player Dieter Hecking who turned around their fortunes.
However they are only five points above third-from-bottom Borussia Moenchengladbach in the first relegation spot.
In other matches of the weekend, second-placed Schalke 04 who trail Bremen on goal difference, travel to Eintracht Frankfurt today and fourth-placed VfB Stuttgart visit Nuremberg.
In yesterday's big match, Borussia Dortmund were without captain and central defender Christian Worns at home to Bayern Munich, who are in third place and three points behind leaders Bremen.
Worns ripped his right calf muscle in training on Wednesday and will be out of action for three weeks. Dortmund's Sebastian Kehl was also out with a knee injury.
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