Hello and welcome! The Bundesliga is well and truly back and in full swing and tonight we have a match with huge ramifications in both the battle to avoid relegation and the fight for a Champions League place. Werder Bremen v Borussia Monchengladbach!

And that's full-time!

Bremen may come to regret some of those missed chances at the end, while Gladbach were well off the boil and may rue that come the end of the season.

Another chance for Selke! This time he's one on one with Sommer but can't get any power behind the shot and the Swiss saves easily.

Gladbach fail to clear their lines from a set piece and Bittencourt chips it up to Selke at the far post, but Sommer saves!

Almost a winner for Gladbach!

Lainer cuts inside onto his left foot and lets fly but Pavlenka tips it away.

Gladbach are riding their luck! Sommer charges out of his goal to collect a loose ball but passes it straight to Rashica. He puts in a threatening ball but no one can get their head to it. Bremen have had their chances...

Klaassen!

The Dutchman pulls it back from a narrow angle towards Bittencourt but the Bremen attackers are too static when only a mere touch would have taken it in.

Neuhaus again!

He's certainly been Gladbach's best player and almost found the opener once more, shifting into a bit of space on the edge of the box and bending one just wide.

Are Bremen making a late dart for this?

Bittencourt, the hero over the weekend, lets fly from distance and it *just* goes over. There were millimetres in that...

What. A. .Chance.

Sommer dawdles on the ball and is promptly robbed in possession by Bittencourt. It falls to Sargent to apply for the finish but somehow a defender makes amends for his howler and smothers the ball.

There's only a little over 20 minutes to play here! Two of the Bundesliga's most leaky defences have stood surprisingly firm, given the high stakes on the line...

Neuhaus has a chance to threaten with a wide set piece but his free kick seems to be neither a cross nor a shot and flies out of play.

It looked for a second as if Thuram could get in behind as he looked to latch on to a Plea pass. But the Gladbach defenders do a brilliant job of crowding him out and Gross gets it behind for a corner. In the resulting set piece, Ginter goes down after a tangle with Klaassen but there's no hint of a penalty.

Gladbach come to life!

It's Thuram with the threatening run and he looks to side-foot the ball into Stindl's path for a tap in, but Moisander gets across to make a clearance.

It's all Bremen at the moment!

After a game of pinball in the Gladbach box, the ball breaks to Klaassen, who finds himself half a yard of space and shoots, but it goes over the bar.

At the moment is seems Rashica wants to do it all himself. He collects the ball in space on the left flank, cuts inside and lets fly. It's a dipping effort but he'll need to do more than that to beat Sommer at his near post.

A good start to the second half from Bremen, resulting in the most dangerous efforts they've managed all game. They need this win...

What a save!

Rashica has always looked the most likely to score for Bremen and almost managed it with a free kick from 25 yards which bounced wickedly in front of Sommer, who got up brilliantly to save the follow up.

And we're back! Can Gladbach force a win to boost their Champions League hopes? Will Bremen chalk up three more points to help their survival bid?

It's almost time to get back going again! Forty-five big, big minutes for both of these teams ahead..

And that's half-time. It's been anything but a classic but surely a meeting between these two sides will produce goals - neither has a defence which was performed particularly impressively this season and both have so much to play for.