Finally a home game again

After two away games, Hertha entertain FC Ingolstadt at the Olympic stadium on Bundesliga 2 matchday 12 on Friday evening (02.11.12).

After playing two consecutive away games, the capital city side are looking forward to performing at home again, as they host fifth-placed FC Ingolstadt in a Bundesliga 2 matchday 12 encounter, under the floodlights at the Olympic stadium in the nation's capital on Friday evening (02.11.12, 18.00 CET). Last week's 1-1 draw away to table-toppers Eintracht Braunschweig saw the side under Jos Luhukay remain in second place in the table and extended their unbeaten run to an impressive nine games. The Bavaria-based visitors have a fine record of their own - they are unbeaten on their travels so far this season. Luhukay is relishing the challenge. The Dutchamn: "We are concentrating on the job at hand. We will have to outwit their defence and take our chances when they arise. I hope that happens very early in the game. But we will have patience. Ingolstadt are unbeaten away from home and we want to put a stop to that run."

As was the case in Braunschweig, Änis Ben-Hatira will miss out through the ankle injury he sustained during Hertha's 2-0 win at Bochum. Luhukay explained: "Änis was only able to do some very light rehabilitation training this week. We will monitor the healing process. After that we will know more." Hertha's list of walking wounded is finally shortening, as the return to first team training of Felix Bastians and Daniel Beichler underlined. Both players came through full sessions without any problems. Shervin R. Fardi was also training again last week. But after being sidelined for so long he was avoiding heavy tackles. Long-term injured trio Pierre-Michel Lasogga, Maik Franz and Christoph Janker will miss the visit of Ingolstadt, and Levan Kobiashvili is suspended for the rest of this year.

Captain misses out

One painful omission is that of influential Hertha captain Peter Niemeyer. The former Werder Bremen battler picked up a fifth booking last weekend and he is suspended for the round 12 clash on Friday. It is not yet clear who will play his role in the team. Luhukay is spoilt for choice with regard to possible replacements: Fabian Lustenberger is at home in that role, Ronny can also play "number 6". The Hertha coach would not be drawn on the matter at the pre-match press conference. Luhukay: "You have to be careful making changes. Several players have reached a very good level in their current positions and are thriving there."

The one captain misses out while another makes his return to Berlin. Former Hertha skipper Andre Mijatovic joined Ingolstadt from the capital city club at the start of the season. The Croatian defender joined Hertha in 2009 and immediately became a key player for them. In his first season he won promotion to the Bundesliga with Hertha. During his two year spell Mijatovic made 52 appearances for the capital city club, scoring twice in all. He remembers: "I had two wonderfully successful years in Berlin. The final six months which included relegation were of course tragic for the club and myself. But I have found a new challenge now and am very happy. I still have contact to former Hertha team mates, especially Levan Kobiashvili and Peter Niemeyer.“

Tough task on Friday

Hertha's coach rightly has a lot of respect for Ingolstadt. He said this week: "Ingolstadt have really impressed this season. They are a steady side with a lot of big strong players. They are very dangerous at set pieces, and are quick on the attack thanks to the likes of Caiuby and Eigler. We must remain wide awake at all times."

Possible line-ups:

Hertha BSC: Kraft - Holland, Lustenberger, Brooks, Pekarik - Ndjeng, Kluge, Ronny, Schulz - Ramos, Wagner

Ingolstadt: Özcan - da Costa, Mijatovic, Gunesch, Schäfer - Matip, P. Groß - Uludag, Leitl, Caiuby - Eigler