Bundesliga preview: Battle for second heats up

Bayer Leverkusen and Hannover meet in a blockbuster clash at the BayArena on Friday as the battle for second spot in Bundesliga intensifies.

Bayer leapfrogged Hannover into second following their 3-1 defeat of Borussia Monchengladbach on Sunday.

They are 11 points behind all-conquering Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund, whose grip on top of the table is becoming more and more insurmountable as each round passes.

Hannover, a further two points behind Dortmund in third, slipped to a shock 1-0 loss at home to Schalke on Saturday to relinquish second place.

With Dortmund all but assured of taking the German title, Bayer and Hannover will fight it out over the remainder of the season for the second and final Champions League place.

Central to Hannover’s plans to upset Bayer will be Ivorian striker Didier Ya Konan, who failed to get on the scoresheet for the first time in five league games against Schalke.

The 25-year-old has 10 goals in 17 appearances this season, equal fifth-best in the league, and has been in astonishing form of late.

On Saturday, Dortmund take to the road to face a confident Wolfsburg still upbeat after ending a run of seven straight draws by edging Mainz 1-0.

Bayern Munich, who have risen to fourth on the table with a string of steady results, will relish a trip to leaky Werder Bremen, who have conceded a second-worst 39 goals in the league.

Early front-runners Mainz will look to turn around their mid-season blues at Kaiserslautern, who plummeted to 13th after a 5-1 hiding at Bayern last weekend.

Improving Schalke will look to continue their climb up the table when they host Hoffenheim, while sixth-placed Hamburger is aiming for four wins in a row at Nurnberg.

Relegation battlers St Pauli and Koln square off at the Millerntor Stadion.

On Sunday, Freiburg will look to halt a three-match winless slide at lowly Stuttgart, and bottom-placed Borussia M’gladbach travel to an Eintracht Frankfurt outfit reeling from back-to-back losses.