HANNOVER - Werder Bremen welcome back Tim Wiese for their game against Hannover.
The starting keeper has overcome a thigh injury and is likely to replace Christian Vander between the posts.
"If we believe he is fit, he will be playing," coach Thomas Schaaf said of Wiese.
"It not, we´ll stick to Vander. We have full confidence in him."
Striker Hugo Almeida has also returned to practice following a similar injury as the absent list is getting shorter.
Only Clemens Fritz (thigh), Sebastian Boenisch, Patrick Owomoyela, Pierre Wome (all unfit) and Torsten Frings (knee) are still missing, which is a significant decrease from the double-digit injury problems Werder had earlier this season.
After defeating Hamburg 2-1 last weekend, the northerners have emerged as the number one contender to threaten Bayern Munich´s hegemony.
They even led the league for 24 hours before Munich pulled back with a victory at Bielefeld. Meanwhile, Schaaf has warned his team not to take Hannover lightly.
"They have played a great season," the coach said.
"It will be an exciting match. It´s good for the northern region that there´s another competitive team growing together in Hanover."
Hannover boss Dieter Hecking believes it´s time for a home win against the mighty neighbours, and he has backed his claim with an interesting explanation.
"We have not beaten them at home for a long time so the probability that we will eventually win is increasing," he said.
"Why should we not win on Saturday."
Altin Lala (thigh) and Chavdar Yankov (knee) are definitely missing, while Michael Tarnat (knee problems), Benjamin Lauth (groin), Frank Fahrenhorst (broken hand) and Hanno Balitsch (calf) are listed as questionable.
"The personnel situation might force us to make some changes," Hecking hinted.
