Matchday 8: Saarbrücken hosts Bremen in top match, derby in Grünwettersbach

Third in the table against 5th: The top match of Matchday 8 of the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) will be played on Friday evening between 1. FC Saarbrücken TT and SV Werder Bremen. Borussia Düsseldorf plays a home match against TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell, while ASV Grünwettersbach and TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen face each other in the Baden-Württemberg derby.

1.FC Saarbruecken TT - SV Werder Bremen

The 1. FC Saarbrücken TT is facing an explosive year-end spurt in the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL). 1st it goes for the reigning vice-champion and current table 3rd on Friday evening in the top play against the SV Werder Bremen, afterwards with Duesseldorf (11 December) and the TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen (16 December) still two further teams from the top group wait, before it to the Hinrunden conclusion with Grünwettersbach (21 December) again against a team from the - conditions so far - lower table half goes. Accordingly, the FCS should be eager to start the top match weeks with a success. However, the Bremen team would also like to maintain its position. Even though they suffered a setback in the recent 3-2 loss to Ochsenhausen, Mattias Falck and Co. are still in a promising position in the table with 8:6 points.

TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau - Post SV Mühlhausen

After a mixed start to the season, Post SV Mühlhausen is slowly getting into its stride: The Thuringians won three of the last five matches in the TTBL - most recently a 3-0 win over Grünwettersbach - and also reached the semi-finals of the Champions League for the 1st time in the club's history. At TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau, Mühlhausen is now aiming for its 4th win of the season on Friday evening, with which the team would equalize its points tally for the 1st time this season. Grenzau, however, also has a tailwind; after five defeats in a row, the Westerwald team celebrated a 3-2 win in Mainz last weekend and therefore an important victory in the basement duel. "Of course, Mühlhausen is a very strong opponent, but we can also make it difficult for such teams if everyone delivers their performance and is ready," hopes TTC manager Markus Ströher for another success. By the way, Grenzau is putting the match under the motto "Together as a team": anyone who comes to the Zugbrückenhalle in a blue shirt will receive a 50% discount on the ticket price.

TTC Neu-Ulm - 1. FSV Mainz 05

The TTC Neu-Ulm is currently going from strength to strength: After the most recent tasks in the cup quarterfinals (3:1 against Post SV Mühlhausen) and in the Champions League (3:0 at Sporting Clube de Portugal), tomorrow, Saturday, the TTBL is on the agenda again. Against 1. FSV Mainz 05, the current 4th in the table (10:4 points) is aiming for its 6th win of the season, which would put the team further at the top of the table. While the prospects for Neu-Ulm are rosy, the upcoming opponent is currently stuck in the bottom of the table. The Mainz team has only won one game so far and recently suffered a serious setback on the way to staying in the league with a 3-2 defeat against Grenzau.

Borussia Düsseldorf - TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell

Even after twelve matches across competitions this season, Borussia Düsseldorf is still unbeaten; yesterday, Thursday, the German record champion won 3-2 in Grodzisk Mazowiecki and is therefore on course for the semi-finals of the Champions League. And Borussia has also already won against TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell this season, with a 3-0 victory in the cup quarterfinals in East Hesse. Accordingly, the signs are clear before the renewed duel, especially since the Düsseldorf team leads the table without a loss (14:0), while Fulda is in a relegation spot with only two wins (4:10). By the way, the game will not be played in Düsseldorf on Sunday, but in Döbeln: For the 1st time in two and a half years, Borussia will play a home game at partner club Döbelner SV. Fulda, on the other hand, only announced a personnel matter on Thursday: Wong Chun Ting is moving to the TTC for the second half of the season, while the contract with Quadri Aruna is being terminated.

ASV Grünwettersbach - TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen

The TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen celebrated an enormously important victory last weekend. With the 3:2 against Bremen, the Swabians decided the top match for themselves, consolidated their place in the top four and proved with the 2nd victory in a row that the short phase of weakness with two defeats in a row has finally been overcome. To owe the TTF this in particular Kanak Jha: The 22-Jährige presents itself in this season so far in Topform and belongs with one 5:0-Bilanz to the best players of the league. The mini-series of ASV Grünwettersbach, on the other hand, has come to an end: after two wins in a row, the Baden team conceded a 0:3 in Mühlhausen last Saturday and is now in 8th place with 6:8 points.

TSV Bad Königshofen - TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt

Even though the final result was a defeat against Düsseldorf, TSV Bad Königshofen should have drawn a lot of confidence for the upcoming tasks from the recent duel with the record champion. Despite the 1:3 defeat, the team from Lower Franconia confirmed its recent upward trend, which had previously brought them three wins from four games. With 6:8 points, Bad Königshofen is currently in the midfield of the table and hopes to be able to balance the points account again on Sunday evening against TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt. The upcoming opponent is slightly worse placed with 4:10 points and hasn't quite been able to figure out where the journey is going in the new season. So far, the only victories have come against Mainz and Grenzau, and last weekend Bergneustadt lost 3-1 to Saarbrücken.

The 8th matchday in overview

Friday, December 2
6.30 p.m.: 1. FC Saarbrücken TT – SV Werder Bremen
7 p.m.: TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau – Post SV Mühlhausen

Saturday, December 3
2 p.m.: TTC Neu-Ulm – 1. FSV Mainz 05

Sunday, December 4
1 p.m.: Borussia Düsseldorf – TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell
3 p.m.: ASV Grünwettersbach – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen
5 p.m.: TSV Bad Königshofen – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt

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