Confirmed lineups: Werder Bremen vs. 1. FC Köln

In the ultimate midfield battle, Werder Bremen (9th) host 1. FC Köln (10th) in a Bundesliga game in which both teams will try to take the next step towards the European places.

Aside from last week's loss against RB Leipzig, Horst Steffen's Werder side have been on a good run of form: wins against Wolfsburg, Union Berlin and St. Pauli put the Werderaner in a nice position moving forward.

The last few games involving Köln, who are doing an outstanding job as one of the two promoted sides, also involved a lot of goals: 3-4 against Frankfurt, 1-3 against Gladbach, 4-1 against Hamburg and 1-4 against Bayern! Let's see if this trend continues today.

With just about one hour to go until kickoff, here are the confirmed lineups for both teams:

Confirmed lineups: Werder Bremen vs. 1. FC Köln

Werder Bremen (4-2-3-1):

Backhaus - Sugawara, Pieper, Coulibaly, Friedl - Stage, Lynen - Schmid, Puertas, Grüll - Topp

1.FC Köln (3-4-3):

Schwäbe - Martel, Özkacar, Heintz - Sebulonsen, Jóhannesson, Castro-Montes, Kaminski - Thielmann, Bülter, El Mala