Champions Stuttgart look to get campaign on track

The defending champions are already five points behind leaders Bayern Munich after picking up just one point from their opening two matches and coach Armin Veh knows anything less than a win against Duisburg would seriously dent his side's title hopes even at this early stage.

 Bayern take on Hanover 96 looking to maintain a 100-per-cent start. Ottmar Hitzfeld is likely to start with Luca Toni as a lone striker up front as Miroslav Klose and Jan Schlaudraff are both injured. Lukas Podolski will begin the match on the bench.

 Hanover will be hoping that Michael Tarnat recovers from a hip problem while Jan Rosenthal is expected to get the nod for the right midfield berth.

 Meanwhile, SV Hamburg will be hoping to go three points clear at the top for 24 hours at least by beating VfL Bochum in the Friday night game.

 Coach Huub Stevens played unsettled captain Rafael van der Vaart in last Sunday's clash with Bayer Leverkusen and the Dutchman didn't disappoint, scoring the only goal of the game from the penalty spot to maintain Hamburg's 100-per-cent start.

 It now seems Van der Vaart's proposed move to Spanish side Valencia is no longer a theme at Hamburg.

 "The game against Leverkusen was a clear sign of how dedicated Rafael is and how much he identifies himself with this club," said sporting director Dietmar Beiersdorfer.

 Despite van der Vaart's apparent U-turn, Stevens remained cautious about his side's prospects against a Bochum outfit that have picked up four points from two matches.

 "We have only played two games and I think Bochum haven't started badly either," he said.

 Hamburg presented new signing Jerome Boateng to the media Thursday but Stevens said it was unlikely the 18-year-old would play any part against Bochum.

 "It's really too early but you never know what could happen," he said.

 In Saturday action, Leverkusen will be confident of bouncing back from their loss in Hamburg when they entertain SC Karlsruhe while Hertha Berlin travel to Arminia Bielefeld.

 Australian striker Joshua Kennedy will make his first start of the season for Nuremberg as the German Cup holders take on Werder Bremen.

 Kennedy, who missed the whole of last season with an achilles injury replaces the injured Angelos Charisteas and will start alongside Robert Vittek and Ivan Saenko.

 "Even though Kennedy is a different type of player, we won't change our system," said Nuremberg coach Hans Meyer.

 Borussia Dortmund need a win against Energie Cottbus to avoid a full-blown crisis at the club. Dortmund sit bottom without a point and were thumped 4-1 by local rivals Schalke 04 last weekend.

 Coach Thomas Doll is expected to make wholesale changes to his forward line in an effort to get Dortmund's first win of the season.

 Schalke coach Mirko Slomka, on the other hand, will likely stick to the same 4-4-2 formation for Sunday's trip to Felix Magath's VfL Wolfsburg.

 Sunday's other match sees Eintracht Frankfurt up against newly- promoted Hansa Rostock.

DPA