On Saturday (5:00 pm), the Veilchen welcome GAK to the Generali-Arena. The Styrian are bottom of the table after eight rounds without a win. By Friday, 12,000 tickets had already been sold. Coach Stephan Helm warns: ‘All their games have been very close. Of course we want to get the maximum out of them!’

Coach Stephan Helm...

...on tomorrow's opponent:
‘GAK is not an easy opponent. All their games have been close, the matches have been tight. We are aware of that. We want to stick to our guns, we want to bring the excitement back onto the pitch in front of our own fans. Everyone is aware of what makes us strong. We want to bring these strengths to the pitch tomorrow. We're going into the game to get the maximum out of it.’

...on the points haul from the last three games:
‘The performances against Rapid, Sturm and Salzburg would have made more points possible. We were sometimes annoyed with ourselves because we could have got more. But we are still convinced of our path. We were very present in many phases and showed what sets us apart. We had good transitional situations, defended well at times and were aggressive. I can filter out scenes from all three games where I think to myself: that's exactly what we stand for. Nevertheless, we didn't capitalise on our chances and didn't take enough points, and we want to make up for that against GAK. We have to radiate mentality!’

...on the course of the season so far:
‘I'm not satisfied. If we had scored three or four points more, I might have been. That would have been within the realms of possibility. We have high expectations and demand everything from ourselves every day. We want to drive our development forward, and the easiest way to do that is with points. Until we're at the level where we can say we're playing dominantly in almost all phases and scoring our goals, we won't be satisfied. We have to challenge ourselves even more, get everything out of ourselves. It's a process that we believe in. We want to create something here!’

...on the formation:
‘We want to stabilise ourselves, both defensively and offensively. We should have scored a lot more goals in the course of the season so far, so of course we're putting our finger in the wound. Whether it's a back three or back four, we want to remain flexible and switch between formations as best we can. We have our own plan for every game, and understandably I can't predict it for tomorrow. I think both formations have their advantages and disadvantages. We want to surprise GAK.’

Reinhold Ranftl…

...about the GAK:
‘They are rightly in the Bundesliga, they played a great championship last year. A really strong opponent. I'm putting myself under pressure for tomorrow. We're still unbeaten at home. With our fans behind us, there's only one direction: three points! When you go into an international break with a win, it's naturally pleasing.’

...on the situation in the table:
‘You're never indifferent to the table - even as a veteran. Social media always puts everything in front of you. It doesn't bother me if we don't win three games. What matters to me is the performance. It's been okay in the last few games. But we want and need to take the next step as a team now!’

Personnel news

Ziad El Sheiwi, Luca Pazourek, Johannes Handl and Abubakr Barry are likely to return to training after the international break, while Florian Wustinger has already been back on the pitch for some time. Andi Gruber could return to the starting eleven after recovering from injury.