Hanover 96 – Hamburg

Championship leader to dropp points in Hannover

In one of the key encounters of the tenth round of the Second Bundesliga, the division's most decorated team will host another promotion contender. Exactly 100 years ago, in the 1922/1923 season, Hamburg won the German championship for the first time in history. A century after that event, the team are tackling the challenge of a return to the Bundesliga. A task that is less glorious, but no less important in today's reality. Before the start of the tenth round, Hamburg, according to bookmakers, are the main contenders to win the Second Bundesliga this season. Hannover are ranked second-fourth in the group with Darmstadt 98 and Paderborn at the same odds of 6.0. Hamburg are top of the league standings after nine rounds. The promotion contender, together with Hansa, are the most uncompromising representatives of the division. Tim Walter's side have seven wins and two home defeats on their books. For the upcoming game, Hamburg are coming off a four-game winning streak, during which they have beaten Nuremberg, Karlsruhe, Holstein Kiel, and Fortuna. In the encounter with the club from Düsseldorf two weeks ago, Hamburg won 2-0 with a dominant 10-0 goal difference. Hannover did not look like promotion contenders in the first three rounds of the current championship. Since mid-August, however, the Ninety-Six have been transformed and in the next six rounds they took 16 points from a possible 18. Braunschweig were the only club to take points from Hannover. In the last meeting before the departure of the players for their national team games, the Ninety-sixths beat Zandhausen 3-2 away. The rotation of the squad used by the head coach in Hannover leaves a pleasant impression. Since the start of 2020, the opponents have played five games against each other. Only in May this year, when Hamburg were in a serious fight for promotion and Hannover had no tournament motivation, Walter's charges managed to win. In the other four meetings, Hannover won twice and twice a draw was recorded. We bet that the home side will be relentless in Friday's clash as well.