Werder Bremen’s plight to survive suffered a significant blow after a 1-0 home loss to VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday but boss Florian Kohfeldt remains confident they can stay up.
The four-time German champions haven’t been relegated from the Bundesliga in 40 years but now sits in 17th, three points behind 16th-placed Fortuna Dusseldorf in the promotion-relegation play-off spot, with FSV Mainz a further three points ahead in 15th.
Dusseldorf managed a 2-2 draw with Hoffenheim on Saturday while Mainz claimed a crucial 2-0 win away to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Werder, who’ve been dreadful at home this season, lost to Wolfsburg only days after going down 3-0 at home to Frankfurt, leaving them in a perilous position after offering renewed hope with some positive form.
“Overall the performance, in terms of how we defended and played up until the final third, gives me confidence that we will be able to make up the three-point deficit between us and the playoff position,” Kohfeldt said.
“Of course they feel deflated now. We now have a week to get ourselves together. We will focus on the final third in training this week.
“We have a few more players coming back, which gives us hope. Niclas Fullkrug will be available next week.
“We now have four games left to avoid relegation. Tomorrow all focus goes on Paderborn.”
Werder’s run home is more favourable than Fortuna, starting with bottom club Paderborn away on Saturday, followed by leaders Bayern Munich, Mainz and FC Koln.
Fortuna’s next two matches are tough against Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, before winnable fixture to finish against Augsburg and Union Berlin.
Elsewhere on Sunday in the Bundesliga, Schalke 04 stopped their losing run with a 1-1 draw at Union Berlin, while Augsburg and Koln drew 1-1 to ease their relegation concerns.
