Basel in pole position
First meets second at the Saint Jakob stadium, where Basel will strengthen their hold on first place if they can beat a Grasshoppers side they lead by seven points. Basel will be without defender Massimo Ceccaroni and midfielder Benjamin Huggel through injury, but have striker Hakan Yakin available ahead of his four-match ban. The 25-year-old was sent off for the fourth time this season last weekend.

Illness and injury
With six games to go in the Nationalliga A, Grasshoppers need a repeat of their 1-0 home success over Christian Gross's men in March. But the Zürich club also have problems with illness and injury. The former accounts for defender Pascal Castillo, the latter for goalkeeper Stefan Huber, defender Bruno Berner and midfielder Luca Ippoliti.

Cup final dress rehearsal
The sides meet again in next month's Swiss Cup final after semi-final victories on Thursday. Grasshoppers thrashed Lausanne-Sports 4-1, while Basel edged past BSC Young Boys on penalties.