“Let’s do this!” | OneFootball

Dino Toppmöller gives his thoughts on HSV, objectives in Hamburg and team news going into the final game of the year.

Eintracht play their last competitive game of 2025 at Hamburger SV’s Volksparkstadion on Saturday 20 December (kick-off 15:30 CET). At the pre-match press conference in the build-up to facing the promoted side, head coach Dino Toppmöller spoke about …… Hamburger SV: “We’re pleased that we’re able to visit HSV in the Bundesliga again. It’s a great club with great fans and a good stadium. We know that HSV are really strong at home. They’ve won their last two league games at home, and have been very good at home all season. We’ll need to push ourselves to the limit if we want to take all three points. That would be a great way to round out 2025.”

… team news: “Farès Chaibi and Ellyes Skhiri are at the Africa Cup of Nations. Elye Wahi is ill so he won’t be available on Saturday. Robin Koch has given the green light, and Hugo Larsson’s had a good week in training. Timothy Chandler is still out [with an ankle injury] and Michy Batshuayi is sidelined with a broken foot.” … Eintracht’s overall situation: “We’re really pleased with our haul in the Bundesliga and we want to cement ourselves near the top. At the moment we’re not focusing on playing eye-catching football - it’s about getting results because this first half of the season has been very draining. But you can see in training that the boys are determined to sign off for the year in a good way on Saturday, and reward themselves for the whole calendar year. They’re pushing each other and the overall sense they’re giving off is one of, ‘let’s do this!’”

… replacing the suspended Arthur Theate: “I think Aurèle Amenda did well when he replaced Robin Koch in the middle against Augsburg. It wasn’t the easiest game to come into. Nnamdi Collins has impressed me, he’s done really well in training this week. I won’t give too much away but there’s a possibility that both of them will play. We have full faith in both of them.”

… Oscar Højlund: “Oscar is back at 100 percent and will get a lot of minutes in the coming weeks and months. He needs to make the most of that to stake his claim in the side. With two players missing from his position and us having a game every three days, it’s important that he seizes this opportunity. The way he plays and the energy and power he provides can do our game a lot of good.”

… Can Uzun: “If Can is in the squad then he’s also an option to start. He won’t be able to play 90 minutes but he can go for more than a half. We’ll have to make a smart decision.”