Bundesliga newcomers Nurnburg have been hit by a double-whammy as they chase their first home win of the season against Freiburg.

Club president Michael A Roth has revealed the promoted outfit have no money to strengthen their squad during the winter break, while star hitman Marek Mintal may be forced to miss Saturday's game after breaking a rib in Slovakia's World Cup qualifying win over Latvia.

Roth is optimistic about the club's future after cutting debts to 8.8million euros in the past year, but he admitted there would still be no money to spend in the transfer window.

"All the ups and downs in recent years have cost us a lot of money," Roth said.

"Our goal is to establish ourselves as a Bundesliga side and maybe even try to compete for a place in international competition. But we cannot afford any transfers during the winter break."

Mintal scored his fourth goal of the season at Nurnburg's 2-2 draw at Borussia Dortmund a fortnight ago but may well join Andreas Wolf (thigh) and Leandro Silva (ankle) on the sidelines.

The visitors find themselves at the wrong end of the Bundesliga after two straight defeats, and a hat-trick of losses could see the club in the drop zone for the first time since promotion in 2003.

Like their hosts, Freiburg are without a league win in five matches, but coach Volker Finke is refusing to contemplate the possibility his side could face a relegation battle this season.

"Those thoughts are not really productive," he said, insisting his side "would continue to play offensive soccer because they have been pretty successful in recent years."

Finke is expected to field four strikers - Ellery Cairo, Soumaila Coulibaly, Roda Antar and Wilfried Sanou - although he will be without Zlatan Bajramovic (groin), Abder Ramdane (rehab), Lars Hermel (unfit) and Seyi Olajengbesi (cruciate ligaments).

The coach has also denied reports he is interested in signing Danish national goalkeeper Peter Skov-Jensen.

"It's completely untrue," he insisted. "We have no interest at all."