Saturday’s game at Vonovia Ruhrstadion pits together VfL Bochum and RB Leipzig, the two teams with entirely different objectives for the second half of the season. Our sportsbook offers the best markets and bonuses for the German top-flight league.
Bochum: League’s Worst Defense
Indeed, despite putting together a solid run of form in Thomas Letsch’s first few months at the club to move outside of the relegation zone, Bochum has lost seven of its last nine games across all competitions.
The bulk of Bochum’s growing foundations under Letsch was built on strong home form, with the 54-year-old sensationally winning each of his first five league games at Vonovia-Ruhrstadion after being appointed in late September. However, even that has deserted the club in recent weeks with a disastrous 2-0 defeat at home to relegation rival Schalke. It finally returned to winning ways last weekend with the second away victory of the season, 2-0, against FC Koln.
With tough fixtures against Champions League representatives RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt on either side of the international break, Letsch and his players are clearly under significant pressure. The team will be without Simon Zoller, Gerrit Holtmann, and Cristian Gamboa due to existing injury problems. Bochum will definitely be happy with a draw against one of the title candidates, but we can’t trust it enough to include it in our soccer picks and parlays.
RB Leipzig: Wounded
RB Leipzig returns to Bundesliga action at Bochum on Saturday, looking to strengthen its hold on a top-four place. RB Leipzig has crashed out of the Champions League spectacularly. On Tuesday, the Red Bulls lost 7-0 to Manchester City.
Leipzig’s title hopes were significantly damaged by a 2-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund two rounds ago, but it immediately bounced back with a convincing 3-0 win against Gladbach. Leipzig is now sitting third in the standings, seven points behind leader Bayern Munich. Marco Rose’s main focus is likely to be set on winning his first trophy in German football, with his former club Dortmund standing in his way in a DFB-Pokal quarter-final clash next month.
With finishing inside the Champions League qualification spots representing a minimum requirement for it nowadays, Leipzig should not drop points against such a poor opponent, so if you’re betting online, expect it to return home with three points.
Leipzig will remain without Peter Gulasci, Abdou Diallo, and Dani Olmo due to long-term injury issues, while Christopher Nkunku and Xaver Schlager both look set to be sidelined for several weeks.
Bochum vs RB Leipzig Head-to-Head
RB Leipzig beat Bochum in each of their last eight encounters across all competitions, including a superb 4-0 win in their reverse fixture.
Since getting promoted to Bundesliga, Bochum has failed to find the back of the net against Leipzig, allowing 12 goals in four games, three in Bundesliga and one in the German Cup. The hosts have the worst defense in the league, with 56 goals conceded in 24 games. RB Leipzig won three of its previous five away games.
Bochum vs RB Leipzig Match Information
- Match: Bochum (7-1-16) vs RB Leipzig (13-6-5)
- Location: Vonovia Ruhrstadion, Bochum
- Day/Time: Saturday, March 18, 10:30 a.m. ET
- Bochum vs RB Leipzig Live Stream: fubo TV
Bochum vs RB Leipzig Betting Lines
Bochum vs RB Leipzig Picks and Prediction
The visitors enter this clash as heavy favorites, priced at -180 on the three-way moneyline according to the latest soccer odds, while the goal line is set at three.
Despite missing several influential players through injury, Leipzig should be able to get itself back on track with a victory. Marco Rose is likely to mix the squad, but regardless of which players will be deployed in the starting lineup, the visitors are by far the better side, and we expect them to cover the spread.
The Leipzig are listed at -180 in our Vegas Bundesliga lines. This means that if you wager $100 on Leipzig, you have a chance to win $56. The Bochum are +475, offering a chance to win $475 on a $100 wager. The implied probability attached to the betting lines gives Leipzig a 64.29% chance to win, with Bochum at 17.39%.
