Hamnburg face Schalke

After the most difficult of starts to the new season for Hamburg, the Bundesliga's longest-standing club have pushed on from the opening night's crushing defeat to Bayern Munich and forgotten that the result even happened. On Saturday, the sixth placed dinosaurs face Schalke, who themselves look a side ready to take the next step.

Despite being unbeaten in three Bundesliga games for the first time since October 2013, Bruno Labbadia has insisted that his side won't read too much into its current good form. "We don't care about our position in the table," Labbadia told the club's website. "If we start to watch the table it would be a return to bad habits. All I am interested in is that we have ten points which is great."

Tuesday's last-gasp win over Ingolstadt was a refreshing sight for HSV fans, who over recent years, have been used to the disappointment of defeat from such situations. The man who won the game with a stunning free-kick, Michael Gregortisch, has been in-and-out of the starting lineup over the last year. But his moment in the headlines has given him, and his team, a fresh boost of confidence.

"Aaron [Hunt] told me: ‘Put it away big man!' Luckily it worked, although it was a bit lucky after taking a deflection. But we have worked hard to earn that luck and is well deserved by the whole team," the midfielder said after the win over Ingolstadt.

Having also secured three Bundesliga clean sheets in a row for the first time since 2007, last season's relegation play-off survivors have reason to be optimistic ahead of this weekend. But the test of Andre Breitenreiter's Schalke is one of the toughest possible at this time.

Schalke in full-flow

Like Hamburg, Schalke secured a third consecutive Bundsliga clean sheet this week, in beating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 on Wednesday night. After an inconsistent first three matches, the Royal Blues are beginning to come together as a unit at both ends of the pitch.

As is obvious when a team is able to keep clean sheets, the Schalke defense is in a good place right now. Ralf Fährmann performed heroics in keeping Stuttgart at bay last weekend, whilst central defender Joel Matip has scored twice in three games whilst controlling the back-line with captain Benedikt Höwedes continuing his return to full fitness.

In attack, though, is where Schalke look most efficient. With the experience of Klass-Jan Huntelaar leading the line, the likes of Max Meyer, Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting and Franco Di Santo are enjoying more touches of the ball than last season under Roberto Di Matteo. But it's the name of a bright young start that has fans in Gelsenkirchen purring. Leroy Sane has scored in each of the last two games and is loving life as a Schalke player.

"At the moment everything is going very well," the 19-year old told the Schalke website. "He [Andre Breitenreiter] makes football fun, and prepares us very well for matches. The manager talks a lot to us, and criticizes when we need to improve."

With Schalke sat in third, three points behind rivals Borussia Dortmund, a win on Saturday would maintain a strong push to return to the Champions League places by the end of the season. For Hamburg, as Labbadia says, looking at the table is the wrong idea right now.

Bundesliga Matchday 7 Fixtures:

Cologne vs. Ingolstadt (Friday)

Wolfsburg vs. Hannover (Saturday)

Stuttgart vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach

Augsburg vs. Hoffenheim

Werder Bremen vs. Bayer Leverkusen

Mainz vs. Bayern Munich

Hamburg vs. Schalke (Saturday late)

Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Hertha Berlin (Sunday)

Borussia Dortmund vs. Darmstadt