Bayern Munich vs Hoffenheim Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Jan 26, 2016 @ 05:38 pm

Pep Guardiola’s side narrowly edged past Hamburg last Friday with a 2-1 victory. Robert Lewandowski scored his 16^th and 17^th goal of the season in the Bundesliga and closed the gap to Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang to just one goal for the top goal scorer award. On a team point of view it kept Munich ahead of Borussia Dortmund by 8 points as they had a very good result at Borussia Monchengladbach, winning 3-1. Bayern Munich are prolific at home this season with 9 victories from their 9 home league matches, scoring 32 goals and conceding just 3. The future of Pep Guardiola has been very much in the public eye as Guardiola has announced he will be leaving the German side at the end of the season to pursue a different challenge with the Premier League the most likely destination for the ex-Barcelona manager. He looks set to claim another successive Bundesliga title but the Champions League will be the main target for them this season. 

It is always the most daunting prospect of any side in Germany heading to the home of the reigning champions but Hoffenheim can take some confidence after a morale boosting point at home to Bayer Leverkusen. They were second best for large periods of the game but Olivier Baumann had a brilliant performance in goal for Hoffenheim to earn them a draw. It was a point that took them off the bottom above Hannover and could be critical come the end of the season. They’re still 4 points off safety but they may feel the best time to face Munich would be after the winter break where the players are still yet to get up to full match speed. It’s going to be a mammoth task for the visitors as they currently are the 2^nd lowest goal scorers in the league with newly promoted Ingolstadt only boasting a worse record.

As mentioned above, it will see the 2^nd lowest goal scorers in the league against the best defensive side in the league so Hoffenheim’s only chance of a result may be to hold them somehow to a 0-0. It seems a matter of how many they’ll get in hindsight but they did manage a 3-3 draw back in 2014. Munich have fired in 20 goals in the previous 5 meetings at the Allianz Arena and you fear for Hoffenheim with Bayern Munich 1/10 odds on favourites with many bookmakers. 

Jerome Boateng suffered a serious injury in the 2^nd half against Hamburg and will be missing for up to 3 months. A groin injury is the cause and now Guardiola has a headache in defence with Javi Martinez and Holger Badstuber his only options. Mario Gotze is still yet to step up in his efforts to recover from an injury sustained on international duty. Mehdi Benatia is also missing for the home side. Andrej Kramaric arrived from Leicester City on loan for the rest of the season but given Hoffenheim’s creditable result against Leverkusen last Saturday the Croatian forward will have to be satisfied with a place amongst the substitute’s bench again.

Bayern Munich

Stats: W-16 L-1 D-1

Recent Form – WWWWW

Hoffenheim

Stats: W-2 L-8 D-8                                            

Recent Form - DDWLD

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Bayern Munich (4-2-3-1) – Neuer, Lahm, Martinez, Badstuber, Alaba, Thiago, Alonso, Costa, Coman, Muller, Lewandowski

Hoffenheim (4-2-3-1) – Baumann, Kaderabek, Sule, Schar, Kim, Rudy, Strodl, Volland, Hamad, Schmid, Vargas

Injury List/Suspended Players

Bayern Munich – Gotze (inj), Ribery (inj), Benatia (inj), Boateng (inj), Rafinha (inj), Bernat (inj)

Hoffenheim – Amiri (inj), Schwegler (inj), Elyounoussi (inj)

League Positions