The German league and cup double winners Werder Bremen travel to Stuttgart for the pick of Wednesday evenings Bundesliga matches with a somewhat delapadated squad. "The situation within our squad has not changed. Tim Borowski and Angelos Charisteas will both miss the tie and there are a string of other injury struck players in rehab", explained headcoach Thomas Schaaf on Monday. Some good news for the coach was that Valerien Ismael, who took a knock to his knee against Stuttgart on Saturday, will be fit : "I was caught by a stud on the inside of the knee which was very painful - I trained without pain today but that said, I didn't overdo it - tomorrow I can get stuck in", enthused the Frenchman.

Thanks to the current injury situation, young third divsion amateur Francis Banecki could well participate in his third full team match on the trot. The 19 year-old said on Monday : "There have been no signs as yet as to how the trainer will decide but if he was to give me another chance, I'd be delighted". The coach was still playing his cards close to his chest : "He did his job very well on Saturday, now it's up to him to show what he's capable of in training and improve upon that."