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Flensburg without Svan Hansen

Lemgo are a lot better in away matches than at home, and they are coming here after they were conceding 31 or more goals during the last five matches. Flensburg scored only once more than 27 goals out of seven matches

Ljubo Vranjes has few rotation possibilities this season in Flensburg, so every injury is a major problem. From the beginning of the season, they are playing without the left back Kaufmann and now they are without the right wing Hansen for five weeks. The Dane injured his left thumb against Fuchse and is going to be away for a long time, which means Radivojevic, this summer's reinforcement from Partizan is going to play as a full-time right wing.

Flensburg are coming to Lemgo after a home draw against Fuchse (26-26), in which they had the lead the first 40 minutes, and then a terrible downfall and took one point owing to the referees, who did not call a 7 meter throw for Horak in the last second. They already lost five points this season. They are losing the top and are getting farther from the fight for the champion's title.

Lemgo are traditionally difficult for them; they did not win once against them in the last four seasons (one time 23-23). The last win happened in December 2009 (24-23). Last season they lost 27-22.

- We are going to do anything to put a stop to that tradition - says coach Vranjes, who is angry at the Bundesliga for placing this match on this day.

Namely, six of his players were on the Danish and German national teams' meeting, and if we add the injured Hansen and Kaufmann, it is easy to understand why he is so angry. He had a decimated team to practice with.

-When someone has new players and a new coach, it takes time. Lemgo have so far done a good job - said Vranjes about the today's rival.

Flensburg has the most problems with offensive play now. The fact that they only once in seven league games scored more than 27 goals seems unbelievable; against Lubbecke 29. In the mentioned draw against Fuchse, it was 22-19 at 46', and then in 14 minutes scored only 4 goals. However, they did play against defensively strong teams. Lemgo are not. Lemgo conceded 31 or more in the last five matches and it is going to be interesting to see how Flensbrug is going to use that.

Young Lemgo have so far found a way to penetrate any defense. Especially in away matches, whereas they are not playing so well in front of their fans at home. The last two home matches against Melsungen and Goppingen were losses (38-33 and 34-32).

Last weekend they played a brilliant match in Magdeburg. They attacked the home team where they were vulnerable, used the fact that Magdeburg were without key defense players Landsberg, Haaß and Rojewski. They won 34-33 after the winger Bechtloff scored one in the last second.

Center back Herth was a superb leader, did much more than the statistic shows (8 goals, 3/4 7m), pivot Pekeler added 7 and right back Hermann 5 goals.

- Flensburg are a clear favorite. They have at least one national team player on each position. They are not 100% coordinated during this phase of the season and maybe that is our chance - said coach Niels Pfannenschmidt.

- We want, of course, to hold out as long as we can and play an exciting game for the audience.

Lemgo's coach also had trouble with match organization, as he was also without a few players (Pekeler, Lemke, goalkeeper Baur), and Herth and Bechtloff were injured or ill. Herth is not so questionable, but Bechtloff is.

Lemgo play good and attractive handball and they have more points in the first seven rounds than anyone predicted. But, prior to this match a distinction between places where they won points and where they did not win points has to be made. They lost at home against Göppingen and Melsungen, two teams that can play tough 6-0 defense and be physically dominant, the same as Minden, a team they had a draw against on the road. In Magdeburg and Wetzlar they used injury problems their opponents had and they won against Gummersbach at home 28-27 despite losing for 55 minutes. Today they are hosting a team that is hungry to achieve good result and that has a negative streak here and Flensburg have not won in Lemgo in the last four seasons. I am fairly sure that streak ends tonight, Flensburg will dominate with strong defense which is their by far strongest suit this year with goalkeepers Andersson and Rasmussn and they will use Lemgo's bad defensive transition and win the points. I also expect them to win with over 2 goals difference.