Hoeness: "We want to take the next step"

Sebastian Hoeness on…

…the personnel situation: "There's still a question mark hanging over Kevin Vogt. He has injured the ligaments in his thumb. We will make a late call on him. Otherwise, nothing has changed. There are no injuries on top of the ones we had for the Bielefeld game. Ryan Sessegnon remains unavailable as well."

…the opposition: "I think that Hertha will try to play an attacking game. The team have a great deal of individual quality, even if that is not yet reflected in their results. Hertha have really invested in quality. I expect that the opposition will attack us early. We'll be prepared for that."

…the team's development: "In Berlin, we want to combine our defensive stability from the Bielefeld match with our chances from the Schalke game. We only conceded two shots on goal against Bielefeld and kept our first clean sheet in the league. It would obviously help us if we could take the lead from time to time. We want to take the next step against Hertha BSC. We'll keep working hard."

…his past at Hertha BSC: "I played for the Hertha BSC amateurs for many years and lived in Berlin for a long time. I have very fond memories of that time. It'll be a special occasion, and I'm looking forward to the match."

The opposition's form:

With 17 points from their 16 matches, Hertha BSC are one point and one place above TSG in the table. The capital club drew 0-0 away to 1. FC Cologne at the weekend, having lost 4-1 at SC Freiburg the week beforehand.

Head-to-head record:

The last meeting between the clubs was the first game back after the coronavirus break. Hertha claimed a 3-0 win at the PreZero Arena that day, but Hoffenheim have the better overall record with nine wins from 20 matches (five draws and six defeats).

Match facts and statistics »