Leverkusen is playing very well in Bundesliga this season being 2nd at the moment where they will probably end up this first part of the season as the leading and merciless Dortmund is ahead by as many as 11 points at the top of the tables. They’ve played more than good this fall, and they’re a group of players that know each other really good containing of Kiessling, Helmes, Rolfes, Hyppia, Castro… then solid Kaplan and of course coach Heynckes that have been leading them quite good, and this team’s characteristic this season is again to play offensively just like they’ve been doing in the past few years, while on defense they can slip up easily since they’re playing quite risky and high up and their defenders aren’t too great. They played the last match last Thursday against Atletico Madrid in Europa League at home, against a team that needed to win but under snowy weather conditions, Leverkusen held on well even though they were quite inferior but eventually got one point and by doing that they’ve just solidified their first spot and confirmed the advancement to the knockout stages proving they’re playing one really good season so far.
Beyond the capabilities
Freiburg has really pleased their fans in this part of the season as they’re at the 5th place before the last round of the first half of the season, which is extremely good for them. In the last round, led by great coach Dutt they won yet another match without major troubles by 3:0, which wasn’t much of a surprise anyway as they faced the last-placed Borrusia Moenchengladbach at home. They were without a few players in that match such were Oemer Toprak, Simon Pouplin, Pavel Krmas and Tommy Bechmann, and it’s uncertain if any of them will return for this outing. It’s hard to expect their probably best player Cisse will be getting too many usable passes beside constant hosts’ attacks that are expected, but it’s certain that Freiburg proved to be a very dangerous side, and their 9-0-7 record speaks enough about the fact they’re going for the win and all or nothing in each match, always playing open footie.
Home win
I won’t be wasting much more time on this pick and I’ll just admit this is my banker for the weekend. I don’t know where 12bet got such nice odds from, but I’m gonna bet on this for maximum stakes as I don’t see how Leverkusen will disappoint their fans in the last match of the first half of the season. A few days ago they knocked out the EL defending champs Atletico Madrid from that competition, playing terrific, attacking, and will be pressing Freiburg from the first minute, as the visitors still don’t have the quality to defend from such a powerful team as Bayer, so I think that Freiburg will hardly keep such a high position in the standings in the spring, and will play just as much as it’s necessary to stay in Bundesliga. Good luck!
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Prediction:
Tip: 1 AH (-1)
Odd: 1.76
Bookie: 12bet
Mainz has started the season in an excellent way but then they recorded 4 losses, so now they’re 2nd in the standings with 7 points less than the first-placed Dortmund. Their tradition against Nurnberg at home is on their side, winning 5 out of the last 6 matches against them, with only one loss by a narrow 1:0 margin. Mainz is the better side, and even though they’ve got some home losses, they managed to win on the road in the last round and that could mean they’ve awaken from the downfall in form. Aristide Bance won’t be available, but I think Mainz is able to record their 10th win in the league this season.
Complete
Nurnberg is indeed a solid side, and are currently in the mid-table area. They can’t brag about some terrific offensive displays as they’re mostly collecting their points at home. Coach Hecking will have the best lineup available, so those are good news for them. It seems like they’ll be going for the win and attempt to make Mainz lose their 4th consecutive home match. I also think that will be really hard to do, but they’ll surely give their best. It should be mentioned they’re on a losing streak, firstly losing to Bayern on the road by 3:0 and then at home during the past weekend to Kaiserslautern by 3:1. Anyway, they’re complete before the trip to Mainz, and this will be a Friday night match worth watching.
The hosts are better
Mainz is the better team here both on paper and on the pitch. Mainz has been the leading team of Bundesliga until recently, but then they streaked a few losses and dropped down to the 2nd place, so now Dortmund is convincingly leading the standings. Nurnberg isn’t that great on the road and that’s just one more thing going in Mainz’s favor, who should really finally win in front of their fans after 3 consecutive losses. My advice will be a home win then. Good luck!
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Prediction:
Tip: 1 AH (-0.5)
Odd: 1.95
Bookie: Pinnacle
Dortmund continue to impress in 1.Bundesliga. Last week they`ve thrashed Hannover 0:4 away from home, leaving Mainz 4 points behind. Klopp has no new injury problems, so we will see the 4-2-3-1 formation once again. Blaszykowski is pushing for a regular place, as he had some bright moments against Hannover. It is strange, but Dortmund have lost points only at home this season – loss to Leverkusen and draw with Hoffenheim.
Looking for third away win
Hamburger are 6th in the standings, 10 points behind Dortmund. So far, they`ve beaten Eintracht and Mainz away from home, thanks to goals in the last minutes. HSV won 10 points from their last 5 games, but today they will face a very difficult task. Regular keeper Rost is injured, as well as Aogo, Elia, Jansen and van Nistelrooy. Armin Veh will use 4-3-3, with Pitroipa, Petric and Guerrero up front.
Dortmund once again
Hamburger may be in good form in terms of results, but I don`t think they are anywhere near their best. HSV conceded 5 goals to Frankfurt in the cup and then 3 goals to Koln and today they meet the best attack in the Bundesliga. Kagawa, Barrios and Sahin showed some very good football last week and if they find empty spaces, then it will be too hard for the guests.
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Prediction:
Tip: 1
Odd: 1.80
Bookie: Interwetten
Borussia MG have started on fine fashion this campaign, with 4 points in the first 2 rounds, but since then, they managed to gain only 2 points in the next 8 rounds. They have by far the worst defense in the league, as they conceded 30 goals, 10 of which they let in in the last 3 rounds. Coach Michael Frontzeck is having big headaches for this game, as he is without eight first-team players: Dante, Matmour (recovery from injuries), Bailly (flu), Jantschke (broken foot), Juares and Dorda (both knee), Arango and Thorben Marx (suspended).
The climb starts
Bayern easily won in Cluj (4-0), thus securing its place in the last 16 of the Champions League, so now they can continue their chase of the leading pack in Bundesliga. Ribery and Badstuber`s returns will once again be postponed, but van Gaal`s lads are hitting their best form as they are on a 6 games unbeaten run in all competitions (5 wins), while in the last two games they scored no less than 8 goals.
Bottom against the reigning champions
Gladbach don`t have many arguments on their favour, except the recent tradition at the Borussia Park against the Bavarians (2W, 5D, 1L), but they are winless in the last 10 head-to-heads (4 draws and 6 defeats). The hosts are in awful form, the squad is depleted by many absentees and their shaky defense will have a lot of work to do against a side which scored goals for fun lately (Mario Gomez netting a hat-trick in Cluj).
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Prediction:
Tip: 2 AH (+1)
Odd: 2.00
Bookie: Pinnacle
Worst start in History
Stutgart started season in afful form with 3 consecutive losses.After that they achieved biggest win this season in Bundesliga 7:0 and the victim was Moenchengladbach.When all expected from them to start climbing on table, they continue with another 3 consecutive losses and beside good draw away to Schalke 2:2 in previous round they stayed on the bootom of the table.Surpriselinglly they are doing good in Uefa where they have all 3 wins so far.They have good team by names and is matter of time when they will start winning again.
Newcomer in Bundesliga
St. Pauli are newcomers to Bundesliga and they started the season very good.With 4 wins and 1 draw from 8 matchges they are in the middle of the table 7 points away from relegation battle.They are little surprise and are especially dangerous in away games with 3 wins from 4 visits.They didn’t have tough schedule so far and with stutgart will be on real test about theire strength.They lost both games with Stutgart when they played last time in Bundesliga but that was before 9 years and now is different situation with Stutgart on last place and St. Pauli with 9 points advantage.
Must win for Stutgart but…
This is must win game for Stutgart since they don’t belong to relegation places in Bundesliga and especially not to last place.They will start to attack with all theire power since what is happening to them in Bundesliga is embarrassing.They show totally different face in Europe where they won all theire games.It is time for win and start climbing on table. They can be little tired because of playing tough game against Getafe on Tursday but they can’t have any excuses not to beat newcomer St. Pauli.Theire win can become public bet and I don’t like to bet on it.I will rather take over since pressure can be to big for hosts and St.pauli can play more freely.They are dangerous from counter attacks and we saw lot of surprises this year in Bundesliga.Stutgart has 7 consecutive overs and also has 4 goals average per game while at home evenmore impressive 5 goals pewr game.
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Prediction:
Tip: Over 2.5
Odd: 1.62
Bookie: Nordicbet
Very motivated to win
Leverkusen are on good 4th place but with game less then 3rd placed Hannover.With win they will retake 3rd place but also will came to only 2 points from theire today opponent Mainz.They will be very motivated because of that and also because they lost to many points at home in games with weak teams.they are doing fine in Europe and achive 0:0 draw away to Aris this Thursday, but I thnk they were saving themselves for this game and draw awas enough for them.
Surprise of the season
Mainz are biggest surprise of Bundesliga so far, since they from midtable team last year this year started with 7 wins from 7 games until they finally lost in last round from Hamburger at home 0:1.Before that they beat teams like Wolfsburg, Bayern and Werder all away and stutgart and Hoffenheim at home.So not easy schedule.The are very dangerous especially in away matches, playing free and open football and are not afraid from anybody.If they continue like that they will achieve lot of surprises in next rounds also.
Over best option
Both teams are playing very open football and have great attacking power.Both score 18 goals in 8 rounds which is more then 2 goals per game.Both defences receive at least goal per game so we have over 3 goals per game average in theire games.If we add tradition that says 5 from 6 overs in last meetings, over 2,5 goals in todays match looks like best betting option since this game can go in any direction in matter of winner.Last year it was 4:2 for Leverkusen.
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Prediction:
Tip: Over 2.5
Odd: 1.63
Bookie: Redbet
Dortmund will be challenging for the title this season, they are currently sitting on top with 21 points with Mainz 05. However you wouldn`t expect from Mainz to keep up their good form, while Dortmund is a big name and i think a lot of this success is due to Shinji Kagawa, who is an excellent player. I talked about him since he was in Cerezo and i was saying that he has bright future, now he is in Dortmund and he is their top goalscorer alongside Lucas Barrios. In a match like this against Hoffenheim you would expect goals to happen, however in the end i expect a win for Dortmund and they will be sitting in the top for another round of the Bundesliga.
Hoffenheim with a decent start
Hoffenheim had a decent start of the season. They are 7th having 14 points from 8 matches and will be challenging this season for a place in Europe. They have some very good players in their squad like Luiz Gustavo, Demba Ba, Chinedu Obasi, Vorsah and Ibisevic who are all very good players. They have a very good team all round i should say. However they are facing the team in form in Dortmund and i think that Hoffenheim might score a goal, but Dortmund will score 1 more than them.
Kagawa to score
I expect Shinji Kagawa to score in this match, i am an admirer of him for a long time now and now that i have the chance to play for him to score in a match i will take it. So in a match like this Dortmund v Hoffenheim goals are expected and i will go for Kagawa to score at least one.
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Prediction:
Tip: Kagawa – Anytime goalscorer
Odd: 3.85
Bookie: Unibet
Koln isn’t playing too well this season, being just slightly better at home than on the road with only 7 points won out of the 7 matches played, which gets them to a poor 16th spot in the standings. Podolski isn’t in some superb shape, neither is Slovenian Milivoje Novakovic, and two of them are supposed to be the leaders of this squad. I believe Koln won’t be able to record new points at home in front of their fans, and will record their 5th loss in the season, and the second one in a row.
Following Mainz closely
Dortmund is playing just terrific this season and beside Mainz, they’re the 2nd best team in Bundesliga right now, and are far ahead of the giants such are Wolfsburg, Stuttgart, Bayern or Schalke, but one should know that Bundesliga is often a very well-balanced league. Their defense is good led by Neven Subotic, there is also excellent goalie Weidenfelller. Turkish Nuri Sahin and Paraguayan Lucas Barrios are a killer duo in this squad this season, who even scalped the defending champs and European runner-ups Bayern a few weeks ago. I think they can record a new, 7th win of the season in this match.
Serious visitors
This will be a very interesting clash. Koln, who’s been playing quite bad this season has lost their role of favorites even when playing at home, while on the other hand Borussia is playing excellent and is the only team able to closely follow merciless Mainz in the top of the tables so far. My advice here is an away win, and I also believe we could be seeing some goals as well. Good luck!
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Prediction:
Tip: 2 AH (-0.5)
Odd: 1.86
Bookie: Canbet
After a promising start of a season, Monchengladbach are in big trouble, winless in the last 4 rounds (3 defeats and a draw), in which they conceded no less than 15 goals. What is more, their already shaky defense suffered another blow, as their two center-backs, Dante and Brouwers, are out.
On fire
On contract with Gladbach, the Wolfes had a slow start of the campaign, but raised their form lately, winning 3 out of 3. Coach McClaren disposes of one of the best rosters from Bundesliga, with the two strikers, Grafite (4 goals in the last 2 games) and Dzeko (5 goals) scoring goals for fun and the Brazilian ace, Diego, playing close to his best.
Guests are favorites
Everything points to an away win: Wolfsburg is in better form, they have the strongest lineup and also a good tradition on mutual matches lately (5 wins in a row). Gladbach`s depleted defense will have no chance against Bundesliga`s best offensive pair, so I expect nothing but an away win. Also, we should see some goals here, so probably an Over 2,5 Goals.
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Prediction:
Tip: Away Win
Odd: 2,23
Bookie: Pinnacle
Mainz is the most pleasant surprise of this season`s Bundesliga as they are currently the only undefeated side after 6 rounds, but not only that, they have recorded all 6 wins including the triumphs over Bayern Munich, Werder and Wolfsburg on the road, and one can not differentiate which one of those wins was more shocking. Mainz squad is looking too compact and it is about time we give them credit. If they manage to keep playing up to this level, we`ll see them ending quite high in the standings next spring. Back to their team, they are primarily a side made out of good, hard-working players, almost nobody is sticking out too much above the others and that`s what decorates them the most. If I had to mention a few, they would be Fuchs, Allagui, Szalai and Karhan.
So far, so good
Hoffenheim proved everybody they mean business again this season after scoring 8 goals in their first two official games of the season, and I believe their 4th spot in the standings should`ve been even better as they have recorded their only loss this season against Bayern Munich in quite an unfortunate way, or should I say they were robbed, as Bayern Munich scored the winning goal from offside in the dying minutes of the match. Anyhow, Ibisevic, Salihovic, Ba, Luiz, Vorsah… I believe they again have the team capable of holding the top for very long like they did a few seasons ago, and if they remain injury-free, this nice little town will have something to be proud about late in the season.
Open match
I just feel like avoiding a bet on the hosts under these circumstances will be a sin, but in my eyes Mainz`s streak has got to end some time. And, Hoffenheim is a very dangerous side, which plays some very attacking footie, and the opposing defenses can never be comfortable with them. I feel like the visitors will put up a much bigger fight than expected and therefore see a huge value in these odds for the over, as I believe both sides will surely score, maybe even twice or more each. Last year, Mainz won by 2:1 at home, but now both sides are playing even better offensively than they were doing a year ago. What do you reckon that can bring us? Goals I say.
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Prediction:
Tip: Over 3
Odd: 2.52
Bookie: 10bet
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