Hanover 96 – Kaiserslautern

Neighbours in the standings will both score in a face-to-face encounter

The central encounter of the 18th round of the Second Bundesliga will be played without the top three teams. Hannover and Kaiserslautern are on the doorstep of the coveted promotion zone and will have to fight for a win in the upcoming meeting in order not to lose their hard-won positions. Kaiserslautern can generally be regarded as the season opener. This team won the German championship 25 years ago and represented the country in the Champions League play-offs, but just over four years ago they found themselves in the Third League, from where they got out only at the end of the last draw. Hannover have only recently trampled the Bundesliga fields and start every new season in the second division as one of the favourites, but year after year they fail to live up to expectations. The bookmakers are giving the home side a slight edge in the odds ahead of the meeting. They gave roughly the same advantage to Kaiserslautern in the match between the teams in the first round, which coincided with the first matchday of the championship. Hannover then received a slap in the face from the division newcomer. Kaiserslautern scored the first goal in the 11th minute, the Ninety Sixers made a long attempt to level the score, which they managed to do only in the 80th minute. However, the hosts scored the winning goal in the second half stoppage time, leaving Hannover without a single point. Then, the Ninety-Six made a mistake in the next couple of rounds, and then made a phenomenal run from mid-August to mid-September. Subsequently, the team lost and gained points roughly equally, but left for the two-month break in good spirits. Kaiserslautern showed an extreme degree of unyieldingness in the first round. In 17 rounds, the team lost only twice. In the first, it was beaten by Paderborn, who were in fiery form at the time, in the second - by Regensburg, who managed to score a quick goal and use their chances more effectively. In the five rounds before the World Cup break, Kaiserslautern took 13 points from a possible 15 to move into fourth place in the table. This matchup will be ambitious teams that are fully geared up for the encounter. The opponents are likely to exchange goals.