Hannover 96 vs Hamburger preview - Slomka not worried by injuries

Hamburg coach Mirko Slomka is not concerned about losing captain Rafael van der Vaart and full-back Marcell Jansen for a crucial northern Germany derby at Hannover on Sunday.

Having started the season with two defeats, Slomka is already coming under pressure and the last thing he would have wanted was to lose two of his key squad members.

However, he is confident the players who come in will be good enough to deliver the first points of the season.

"I'm really looking forward to it," Slomka said. "The team's been very sprightly in training and after losing 3-0 to Paderborn, we now want the points.

"No matter who is picked to play on Sunday, they have deserved it. But then I expect from every single one of my players in the squad that they put the team first and give even more."

Slomka should now be able to count on the services of new signing Nicolai Muller, who is set to make his debut up front, while Lewis Holtby is also set to make his bow.

There could be new faces in the Hannover team too, with the two-week break allowing coach Tayfun Korkut to take a closer look at new arrivals Marius Stankevicius and Jimmy Briand.

"There are always positives and negatives to an international break and, in hindsight, I'd say this break has done us good," said the Turkish coach, whose side have started the season with a win and a draw.

"We were able to go into it with a positive feeling thanks to the game against Mainz."

Maintaining that positive feeling is Korkut's remit, and he sounded optimistic at the pre-match press conference.

"We're more likely to take a step forwards on Sunday than one backwards," he said.