Hertha Berlin v Borussia Dortmund
Saturday March 11, 14:30
Sometimes a scoreline fails to give you the entire picture of a match. Borussia Dortmund's 4-0 win over Benfica on Wednesday, featuring a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hat-trick, looks as though it was a straightforward victory that propelled BVB into the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The truth is somewhat different. As Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel conceded afterwards, the hosts had a long sticky spell at 1-0 up, and Benfica were on top. However, the Portuguese giants failed to maximise that spell, and then fell apart.
There's no doubt that Dortmund have been impressive of late. They beat Wolfsburg and Freiburg 3-0, and bashed Bayer Leverkusen 6-2 last weekend. However, I still think the market has underpriced them to win at Hertha Berlin this weekend.
Hertha have one of the strongest home records in the Bundesliga. They have won nine of their 11 matches, and they were seconds away from beating Bayern Munich a few weeks ago, only for Robert Lewandowski to snatch a 96th-minute leveller. Although Pal Dardai's men are having a nightmare on the road (they have lost their last five away games in the league), their results at the Olympiastadion are keeping their push for European qualification afloat.
Hertha have no fresh injury worries, and have had a week off, while BVB are still without Marco Reus because of injury. Hertha pushed Dortmund all the way at Signal Iduna Park in the DFB Cup recently, losing on penalties after 1-1 draw. It's also worth noting that on Dortmund's last two visits to Hertha, they drew 0-0 and lost 1-0.
The caveat is always that Dortmund can blow anyone away if they click, but they have only won two of their last seven away games in the league, and 1.65 feels way too short for the away win.
Recommended Bet
Lay Borussia Dortmund at 1.65
Saturday March 11, 14:30
Sometimes a scoreline fails to give you the entire picture of a match. Borussia Dortmund's 4-0 win over Benfica on Wednesday, featuring a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hat-trick, looks as though it was a straightforward victory that propelled BVB into the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The truth is somewhat different. As Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel conceded afterwards, the hosts had a long sticky spell at 1-0 up, and Benfica were on top. However, the Portuguese giants failed to maximise that spell, and then fell apart.
There's no doubt that Dortmund have been impressive of late. They beat Wolfsburg and Freiburg 3-0, and bashed Bayer Leverkusen 6-2 last weekend. However, I still think the market has underpriced them to win at Hertha Berlin this weekend.
Hertha have one of the strongest home records in the Bundesliga. They have won nine of their 11 matches, and they were seconds away from beating Bayern Munich a few weeks ago, only for Robert Lewandowski to snatch a 96th-minute leveller. Although Pal Dardai's men are having a nightmare on the road (they have lost their last five away games in the league), their results at the Olympiastadion are keeping their push for European qualification afloat.
Hertha have no fresh injury worries, and have had a week off, while BVB are still without Marco Reus because of injury. Hertha pushed Dortmund all the way at Signal Iduna Park in the DFB Cup recently, losing on penalties after 1-1 draw. It's also worth noting that on Dortmund's last two visits to Hertha, they drew 0-0 and lost 1-0.
The caveat is always that Dortmund can blow anyone away if they click, but they have only won two of their last seven away games in the league, and 1.65 feels way too short for the away win.
Recommended Bet
Lay Borussia Dortmund at 1.65
Ingolstadt v FC Koln
Saturday March 11, 17:30
Live on BT Sport
These are worrying times for Ingolstadt fans. The Bavarians are still in the bottom two, despite claiming 16 points from their 15 games under Maik Walpurgis. FCI have been playing catch-up after a disastrous start under previous coach Markus Kauczinski, and now a serious dip in form is threatening their revival.
Ingolstadt led 2-1 at Hoffenheim after an hour last weekend, but then the hosts simply blew them away, winning 5-2. That was Ingolstadt's fourth defeat in five games. Even more worrying is the return to the awful home form that plagued the club at the start of the season. Walpurgis has overseen three defeats in the last four games at the Audi Sportpark.
FC Koln's European dream is in jeopardy after the Billy Goats collected just a point from their last four games, but they've had a tough fixture list which has included defeats to the top two. They comfortably saw off Ingolstadt 2-1 in the reverse fixture, and Peter Stoger's men are boosted by the return from suspension of Jonas Hector.
I can't quite understand why Ingolstadt are favourites here, so let's keep the draw on our side by backing the visitors Draw No Bet.
Recommended Bet
Back FC Koln Draw No Bet at 2.22
Bayer Leverkusen v Werder Bremen
Friday March 10, 19:30
Live on BT Sport
Regular readers will know that I've been a persistent critic of Bayer Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt, and the inevitable happened after Saturday's embarrassing 6-2 thrashing at Borussia Dortmund. Schmidt was jettisoned after two-and-a-half seasons, with the club rightly praising him for the good work he did.
When Bayer clicked under Schmidt, they played breathtaking football, but it seemed the players had stopped responding to him. Some young players were going backwards in their development (Wendell, take a bow), and Schmidt failed to get the best out of summer signing Kevin Volland. His tactical intransigence also stood out - he would refuse to change style or tactics, regardless of the opposition. No wonder he's been linked with the Arsenal job.
Bayer's appointment of Tayfun Korkut until the end of the season is hardly inspiring. He ultimately failed at Hannover, and his spell at second-division Kaiserslautern earlier this term was a total disaster. Even if he manages to pick up some decent results between now and the summer, I'll be amazed if the former Turkey international is in charge at the start of the next campaign.
Werder Bremen are chasing a fourth straight win, and they were absolutely right to stick with their coach Alexander Nouri. Werder have had four defeats and three wins in 2017, but I think they have played well in all seven matches. Whisper it, but the back four is actually looking vaguely decent for once. SVW have only conceded two goals in their last four games, and even calamity keeper Felix Wiedwald is doing well.
Werder won at the BayArena in the cup and the league last season, and they have already beaten them this term at the Weserstadion. You never know what you'll get from a wildly inconsistent Bayer side, so I'm more than happy to oppose them in the Match Odds market at 1.55.
Recommended Bet
Lay Bayer Leverkusen at 1.55
0 nhận xét Blogger 0 Facebook
Post a Comment