Fourth-place Hoffenheim hosts second-place Dortmund Saturday at PreZero Arena, and a home win would narrow the nine-point gap between the two opponents. You can live-bet on the German top-flight league by using our sportsbook.
Hoffenheim: Hot at home
Life under Sebastian Hoeness is good. Hoffenheim are right on Dortmund’s heels, out to take down a team they’ve lost to only twice in their last eight Bundesliga encounters. Ihlas Bebou is Hoffenheim top-scoring with seven goals, while Munas Dabbur has three and Kramaric has four. That’s as many as 19-year-old revelation Georginio Rutter, who also has a couple of assists in an amazing Bundesliga season.
Hoffenheim are one of the best-attacking teams in the league, with 39 goals in 19 matches. They’ve been just about perfect in front of their home fans, won six of their nine games, losing once and scoring 21 goals. They suffered a heavy defeat in midweek DFB Pokal action, conceding four goals to Freiburg while being knocked out of the German Cup. Despite having a brilliant record at home, they enter this clash as underdogs, priced at +200 on the three-way money line, according to the latest soccer odds.
They failed to score at home only once, so we again expect Hoffenheim to find the back of the net against Dortmund. The good thing about Hoffenheim is that they don’t overly rely on Andrej Kramaric, who was their top scorer until last season. Now under Hoeness, he’s the main assister. The Croatian forward has been shifted back a little to allow Bebou, Dabbur and Rutter more room in the attacking line.. This has led to Kramaric supplying seven assists, third in that category behind Bayern’s Thomas Muller and Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz.
We’ve seen at least three goals in 10 of the last 12 head-to-heads between these two teams. The reverse match ended in a 3-2 win for Dortmund, with Hoffenheim’s goals being scored by Christoph Baumgartner and Dabbur. The hosts will be without Bosnia and Herzegovina international Ermin Bicakcic, Danish winger Robert Skov and Czech right-back Pavel Kaderabek, with Austrian midfielder Florian Grillitsch doubtful and Mali international Diadie Samassekou away on AFCON duty.
Dortmund: Same old defensive struggles
Dortmund failed to defend their DFB Pokal crown, suffering a 2-1 defeat to second-tier side FC St. Pauli Tuesday. A poor performance from the German giants, who looked nervous and intimidated by the occasion right from the start. This is a result that will no doubt sting for days and definitely affects the team’s morale and confidence. This makes a bettor think twice before including them to your soccer picks and parlays.
Once again, the defense was a disaster. Thomas Meunier, Manuel Akanji, Mats Hummels and Raphael Guerreiro were all too slow in their reactions and build up, always looking to get forward and leaving many gaps at the back. Adding to that was the team’s star star striker, Erling Haaland. After a superb 5-1 win against Freiburg, Haaland declared that all he wants to do is play football, amid rumors linking him with a move away from Dortmund. He delivered a sub-par performance.
The Black and Yellows are determined to bounce back and beat Hoffenheim on the road. They are sitting second with 40 points in 19 games, six points behind Bayern Munich. This is a tough game for Dortmund, a team with a poor road record. They lost six of their previous ten away games, winning just twice in the process. The good thing about them is that they find the back of the net with ease, so if you’re betting online, we recommend you avoid the winners’ market and focus on goals.
Hoffenheim averages 2.05 goals scored and 1.5 allowed in their previous 20 games, while Dortmund averages 2.6 goals netted and 1.5 conceded in the same number of games. Both teams scored in nine of Dortmund’s last 10 away games.
