Schwaben to battle 1899

Schwaben do battle against 1899 at Neckarstadion this afternoon with a chance to leap above Wolfsburg into sixth place. After Wednesday's loss in the UEFA Cup match against Zenit Saint Petersburg, Markus Babbel knows his side is depleted:

"We need to call up our reserves of energy now. We want to be playing every three days, that is the will of the club, and so we must accept the situation.

"We are looking to win this game because we want to maintain our positive record. Everyone knows that this is also a game for the fans, although it's clear that the games between VfB and KSC have a greater importance to the supporters."

There have been no changes to the injury list with the match in Russia with Matthieu Delpierre, Timo Gebhart, Sebastian Rudy and Yildiray Bastürk unavailable.

Tumbling 1899 is dealing with late decisions on Marvin Compper and Timo Hildebrand along with Tobias Weis, Andreas Beck and Matthias Jaissle. The upstart squad that looked so strong in the Hinrude have seen their attack dwindle since the loss of Vedad Ibišević and only scored four times in the first three matches since returning from the break.

Big match later today - let me hear from everyone in support as we climb the table.