Matchday 7: Personnel worries at Düsseldorf, basement duel at Mainz

Will Borussia Düsseldorf be lucky with the seventh victory in the seventh match? On Sunday, the leader of the table tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) will play TSV Bad Königshofen in the 7th matchday, but has big personnel worries in its luggage. Also on Sunday, the basement duel between 1. FSV Mainz 05 and TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau will take place, already on Saturday, Post SV Mühlhausen wants to take the next step towards the upper half of the table against ASV Grünwettersbach.

Post SV Mühlhausen - ASV Grünwettersbach

While things are still mixed for Post SV Mühlhausen in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL), coach Erik Schreyer's team already has the biggest success in the club's history in the Champions League (TTCLM) in the bag. After the 3:1 against Hennebont and thus the third victory in Group B, Mühlhausen is in the semifinals of the TTCLM ahead of schedule. With similar performances, the Thuringians would now like to climb in the TTBL table, after there had been only two wins in the first six matches. The upcoming opponent has a slightly better record: ASV Grünwettersbach looks at a balanced points account with 6:6, responsible for this is an increase in performance in recent weeks: Thanks to the victories against Bremen and Bergneustadt, Grünwettersbach finds itself in the middle of the table.

SV Werder Bremen - TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen

The top match of matchday 7 will take place at SV Werder Bremen: With 8:4 points each, both the hosts and the TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen are in the top group and have good prospects to end the first half of the season with a top ranking. Bremen is currently fifth and recently won against Mainz, Ochsenhausen is in second place and recently celebrated a 3-0 win against Mühlhausen. "Before Christmas we have five games left, many away games among them, and each of these games is very, very important for us. We always give our best and will try to win in Bremen as well. Of course it won't be easy, but we want to try everything to take the points to Ochsenhausen," says TTF coach Fu Yong, who incidentally will have Shunsuke Togami at his disposal for the first time on Saturday.

TSV Bad Königshofen - Borussia Düsseldorf

With the recommendation of six wins in a row in the TTBL, Borussia Düsseldorf travels to Lower Franconia, but complains about massive personnel problems before the duel. With Dang Qiu (back problems) and Anton Källberg (cold) ailing, Borussia coach Danny Heister currently has only two fit players available in Timo Boll and Kay Stumper. "The two are set. Who we take with us on Saturday is still completely unclear and we will decide at very short notice," explains Heister. There should be at least a small spark of hope for TSV Bad Königshofen, which can look back on successful weeks. In the last four games, the team celebrated three victories, most recently a 3:1 win in Saarbrücken.

1.FSV Mainz 05 - TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau

A possibly trend-setting duel will take place on Sunday at 3 p.m. at 1. FSV Mainz 05. In the basement duel, the promoted team receives the TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau - the last team in the table has the second-to-last team as a guest. Despite good performances from both teams, both Mainz and Grenzau have slipped down the table in recent weeks. With 2:10 points each, they are currently two points behind tenth place. "It's clear that we're stuck at the bottom for now if we lose, and then we have to find solutions to get points," says FSV coach Tomasz Kasica, whose team's only win of the season so far came against Ochsenhausen on Matchday 4. Grenzau, on the other hand, has already been winless for five matchdays, starting the season with a 3:1 win against Saarbrücken. "The mixture of the potential of our young players, who are getting better and better, and the experience especially of Patti", i.e. Patrick Baum, gives great hope for Grenzau to stay in the class, TTC coach Slobodan Grujic recently explained in our interview: "If we don't hang our heads, we can also hope that we will also be rewarded at some point."

TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt - 1. FC Saarbrücken TT

These are difficult weeks for TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt at the moment.Benedikt Duda and Co. were defeated twice in a row in the last few weeks, both against Neu-Ulm and Grünwettersbach.And with 1. FC Saarbrücken TT, the Bergneustädter, who are in eighth place with 4:8 points, now face another top team.However: Also the FCS showed up in this season already the one or other time susceptibly and has already two defeats in the statistics stand.Against Grenzau and most recently against Bad Königshofen, the reigning runner-up and cup winner in the TTBL was surprisingly defeated.However, Saarbrücken travels to Oberbergische with a tailwind: On Wednesday, the team won its second TTCLM match and is on course for the semifinals.

TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell - TTC Neu-Ulm

TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell has recently ended its negative streak, the latest 3:1 in Grenzau was the first success after four defeats in a row across the competition. In the table, however, the East Hessians are still stuck in the bottom of the table: With 4:8 points, Fulda is in tenth place and only two points ahead of the relegation zone - in view of the simultaneous basement duel between Mainz and Grenzau, Fulda would fall back to eleventh place in the event of a defeat. The situation is completely different for TTC Neu-Ulm, whose season plan has worked out perfectly so far. With 8:4 points, the Swabians are in fourth place and, in the event of their fifth win of the season, would further establish themselves in the top group - whether this succeeds, as usual, will depend above all on the team with which Neu-Ulm travels to East Hesse.

The 7th matchday in overview

Saturday, November 26
2 p.m.: Post SV Mühlhausen – ASV Grünwettersbach
5 p.m.: SV Werder Bremen – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen

Sunday, November 27
1 p.m.: TSV Bad Königshofen – Borussia Düsseldorf
3 p.m.: 1. FSV Mainz 05 – TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau
5 p.m.: TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt – 1. FC Saarbrücken TT

Monday, November 28
7 p.m.: TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – TTC Neu-Ulm

You can see all the games live on Spontent's channels on Twitch.