Bundesliga Matchday 25 Preview

After yet another explosive week in the Bundesliga the time has come again for another round of fixtures in the Bundesliga! So here is this week’s preview of fixtures.

Borussia Dortmund v FC Ingolstadt

Two sides that have both failed to live up to the heights of last season, Dortmund’s away performances have kept letting them down so far and mean that they continue to drop points away from home following a 2-1 away defeat to Hertha Berlin which wasn’t too hard to predict considering Hertha hold the best home record in the league this season.

Ingolstadt continue to battle at the bottom of the table and showed a lot of resilience after going behind twice to draw 2-2 with FC Köln despite Ingolstadt having the upper hand for most of the game, and Ingolstadt have failed to recreate the home form that was crucial to them staying up last season. Not because they were beating everyone at home last season but because they were good at besting the sides around them in the league which meant to weren’t near the drop come the end of the season.

Overall I think this should be another day at the office for Dortmund as they’ve always been very solid at home and haven’t lost at the Signal Iduna Park for over a year so this should be a straight forward Dortmund win and a 3-1 win to Dortmund.

FC Köln v Hertha Berlin

Köln will be disappointed to not have held their lead against Ingolstadt last time out after going into the lead twice through usual suspect Anthony Modeste to continue his lightning season in the Bundesliga with the Billy Goats.

Hertha Berlin on the other hand beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 last time out to bring Dortmund’s good run of form to an end and continued their amazing home record at the Olympiastadion too. Although Hertha’s away performances have been somewhat lacking so far this season with them only picking up 9 points away from home all season and they’ve also lost their last 5 away games in the Bundesliga too.

For this game I can only predict a Köln win as they’ve only lost 1 game at home all season and even then that was against a high class Bayern München side so I’ll say 2-1 to Köln.

Wolfsburg v Darmstadt

Wolfsburg shocked all the punters in the last matchday by stealing all 3 points away at RB Leipzig through an early goal from Mario Gomez to take his tally up to 8 for this season. Darmstadt on the other hand earned a very respectable home win against Mainz which saw them stay bottom but move to a point behind Ingolstadt.

Wolfsburg have been a tricky side to call all season with their underwhelming performances this season, but in their last game they have shown that they still do have the quality to beat the better sides in the league. Although Darmstadt are still yet to pick up a single away point all season so knowing Wolfsburg’s luck this season it’ll be the sort of game that they’ll lose…

Although I don’t see anything but a Wolfsburg win unfortunately for Darmstadt which will give Wolfsburg back to back wins to help springboard them further up the table in the hope of a late push for Europe. I’ll predict a 2-0 win for Wolfsburg in this game.

Werder Bremen v RB Leipzig

I expected Leverkusen to walk over Werder Bremen in their last game especially with it being at home, but Bremen gave a solid away performance and with a goal from Claudio Pizarro stole them a point from a very flat Leverkusen team, despite them being lucky with Toprak missing at penalty right at the death of added time.

Leipzig on the other hand will be keen to bounce back from their 1-0 defeat at home to Wolfsburg which saw them slip to 10 points adrift of Bayern Munich which all but hands them the trophy really.

For this game I find it is a tricky game to call but I feel that because Leipzig will be keen to bounce back from their most recent defeat and Bremen aren’t formidable at home either so I think a 2-1 Leipzig win is most likely to happen.

Hoffenheim v Leverkusen

Hoffenheim managed to come from behind to scrape a draw against Freiburg in the last matchday and Leverkusen fell flat when facing a Bremen side under a new manager, I have to say I expected much bigger things from Leverkusen when they faced Bremen.

Hoffenheim on the other hand have lost less games than both of RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund and are still unbeaten at home, so the odds should really be stacked in Hoffenheim’s favour. Although this isn’t how I anticipate the game to play out, I feel now Leverkusen have had more time to learn the ways of Tayfun Korkut then they’ll be more dangerous in this game than last time out.

I predict a 1-1 draw for this game to maintain Hoffenheim’s unbeaten home record and to give us more of an insight into how Leverkusen look under their new manager.

Augsburg v Freiburg

Two very steady eddies this season and both with nothing really to play for now with neither side looking in danger of relegation and Freiburg are currently sitting in 8th after defying all the odds on their return to the big time this season.

Augsburg though are always a tough side to predict and you can never quite get them right, and seem to be something of draw masters in the league this season.

This week I think that a draw is probably a fair result for the two as neither have too much quality for each other, and both have looked very good in certain points of the season so a 1-1 draw is most likely for this game.

Eintracht Frankfurt v Hamburg

Eintracht Frankfurt took a very heavy 3-0 defeat away at Bayern Munich last weekend which isn’t too major of a shock as any team will struggle to get anything at Bayern Munich even for the best of teams. Although their defeat last week means that they’ve now lost their last 5 Bundesliga games in a row.

Hamburg come into this game having beaten Gladbach and Hertha Berlin at home in the last 2 weeks and are in absolute inspired form at the minute to mount their push away from the relegation zone.

For this game I imagine it being a very tight game with Frankfurt looking for their first win in 5 and slipping further away from the European spots and Hamburg are in a great run of form so I’ll say a Hamburg win or a draw based purely on form I’ll say 2-1 to Hamburg.

Mainz v Schalke

Mainz are an interesting and inconsistent side to predict after losing away at Darmstadt but in their previous away game going away from home and beating Leverkusen 2-0 so it really depends on what Mainz side turn up on the day. Last week saw Stefan Bell their big centre back get sent off and them failing to take advantage of Darmstadt going down to 10 men too.

However Schalke on the other hand have progressed through to the last 8 of the Europa league after coming 2 from behind to beat Gladbach on away goals to go through 3-3 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in the first game. Schalke also took Augsburg to town last time out beating them 3-0 with two goals from Guido Burgstaller who’s turned out to be a really good signing for them.

For this game, I can only see a 1-1 draw really as Schalke aren’t the best side away from home especially without big names like Embolo due to injury and maybe some tired legs due to their midweek action so Mainz may even pip them to the 3 points. So many 1-1 draws predicted for this week!

Mönchengladbach v Bayern Munich

Gladbach will be feeling very deflated after losing out on their place in the last 8 of the Europa league to Schalke despite having a 2-0 lead and a phenomenal goal from Dahoud during the second leg at home so now probably isn’t the best time to have Bayern come to visit you but that’s just how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

Bayern Munich come into this week looking in a very strong position for a treble, after being 10 points clear of nearest rivals RB Leipzig, they’re in the DFB Pokal semi final and at the point of writing this currently waiting to find out who they’ll face in the last 8 of the Champions League after demolishing Arsenal 10-2 on aggregate and after their latest triumph at home to Frankfurt they’ll be looking to move closer to the title.

For this game I feel it’s a tough one to call but after Gladbach haven’t had a full weeks rest compared to Bayern that will work in Bayern’s favour and they look unreal at the minute too and wouldn’t be too surprised to see them complete a treble but there’s still a long way to go till that! I’ll say a 3-1 Bayern win to put a further downer on Dieter Hecking and Gladbach’s week.