Rather than being engaged in the expected relegation dogfight on the penultimate day of the Bundesliga season, the two sides staved off fears of the drop a long time ago.

Bochum coach Marcel Koller is keen to finish the season on a high after watching his 13th-placed outfit suffer defeats in their last two outings.

"I am very ambitious and we want to enter the break on the back of positive results," he said.

"We owe it to our fans who have paid money to see us play and deserve a good performance."

Koller has warned his side not to take ninth-placed Karlsruhe lightly despite their late-season struggles.

He added: "They have played a superb campaign but let it slip a little towards the end."

After a fine first half of the season, Edmund Becker's troops have won just once in their last 10 outings to slip out of the race for European football next season.

Nevertheless, attacking talisman Tamas Hajnal, who will join Borussia Dortmund next season, still feels his troops have shown signs of improvement during the last five months.

"Judging from how we play and when it comes down to creating chances, the team has improved," he told kicker magazine.

"If they manage to cut down on the number of individual mistakes they can play a good role again next season."

Tommy Bechmann (ankle) and Daniel Imhof (head) will be missing for the visitors who are hoping to have Marcel Maltritz (toe) and Shinji Ono (foot) available for selection.

Karlsruhe will be without Bradley Carnell (groin), Joseph Kennedy and Christopher Reinhard (both ankle).