Hamburg and St. Pauli will renew hostilities in a hotly-anticipated Bundesliga showdown at the Volksparkstadion on Friday night.
It has been 14 years since these two fierce foes have crossed paths in the top-flight of German football.
Following a seven year absence from the Bundesliga, Hamburg marked their return to the big time by battling their way to a 0-0 draw away at Borussia Monchengladbach last weekend.
Merlin Polzin’s men will be hoping to build on that stalemate by claiming their first win of the season when rivals St. Pauli come calling on matchday two.
Alexander Blessin’s visitors also have one point on the board after staging a dramatic comeback in a barnstorming 3-3 draw with Borussia Dortmund last Saturday.
As such, the Kiezkicker should make the short trip across town in high spirits ahead of Friday night’s Stadtderby.
How the bookies view it: Hamburg to grab bragging rights
The bookies odds suggest that Hamburg will take top honours on Friday night, with a home win trading at 5/4 on Boylesports.
St. Pauli are as big as 9/5 with Boylesports to emerge from the Volksparkstadion victorious while a point apiece has been priced up at 9/4 with the same firm.
Head to head: History favours the hosts
Hamburg have triumphed in eight of the overall 16 Bundesliga battles between the pair, with St. Pauli claiming just two victories while the other six encounters ended all square.
Players to watch: Sands to sin?
With sparks expected to fly on Friday night, James Sands looks like a strong contender to commit two or more fouls during this contest at 6/5 on Bet 365. The tough-tackling St. Pauli midfielder has committed a minimum of two fouls in three of the last six Bundesliga matches that he has started.
Having scored 14 goals across his 32 appearances in the second tier last term, Hamburg will look to Ransford Konigsdorffer for inspiration on Friday night. The Ghanaian international looks overpriced to get on the scoresheet here at 2/1 on Boylesports.
Predicted line-ups
Hamburg will be unable to call upon the services of the injured Bakery Jatta, but apart from that they have a clean bill of health.
St. Pauli boss Blessin will be without injured quartet David Nemeth, Jackson Irvine, Karol Mets and Ricky-Jade Jones.
Hamburg: Fernandes; Elfadlli, Omari, Torunarigha; Gocholeishvili, Remberg, Capaldo, Muheim; Rossing-Lelesiit, Konigsdorffer, Sahiti
St. Pauli: Vasilj; Smith, Dzwigala, Wahl; Pyrka, Sands, Fujita, Oppie, Sinani; Hountondji, Lage
Anything else catch the eye?
Aside from St. Pauli’s aforementioned 3-3 draw with Borussia Dortmund, each of these two teams have been involved in low-scoring matches of late, and this could be another tense, cagey affair.
In fact, Under 2.5 Goals has landed in three of the pair’s four combined league and cup matches this season, making the same selection worthy of support here at 10/11 on Boylesports.
With Hamburg drawing each of their opening two games of the season, and six of St. Pauli’s last nine outings ending level inside 90 minutes, the aforementioned 9/4 about the draw also looks like a strong runner at the Volksparkstadion on Friday night.
GambleAware