Hoffenheim vs Hamburger Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Oct 14, 2015 @ 02:15 pm

Hoffenheim now face a serious relegation battle after their 5^th Bundesliga defeat of the season has dropped them into 17^th place as Stuttgart and Hannover both registered victories. It was always going to be a tall order for Hoffenheim to win at Wolfsburg which would’ve given them back-to-back victories on their travels for the first time in 3 years but they succumbed to a 4-2 defeat. They were 2-0 down in the opening 7 minutes but rallied back to level just short of the hour mark at 2-2. But they couldn’t hold onto the share of the spoils for long as within 10 minutes they fell behind before Max Kruse scored his hat trick in the final 10 minutes. It was Kruse’s first goals of the season for Wolfsburg which epitomises Hoffenheim’s defence of late who’ve conceded 14 goals in their last 6 games.

Hamburg gained a creditable draw at the weekend away to Bayer Leverkusen. Manager Bruno Labbadia had never lost 3 successive matches at Hamburg and that record is still intact after the draw which he largely had Rene Adler to thank as Hamburg’s goalkeeper made some crucial saves to deny Leverkusen all 3 points. They’ve been 1 of the most inconsistent teams in the Bundesliga this season and Labaddia will be concerned at their efforts in front of goal after scoring just 1 goal in their previous 5 Bundesliga matches. Pierre-Michel Lasogga fired a blank against Leverkusen and has 3 goals in 9 league matches but Hamburg’s 3 other forwards, Ivica Olic, Sven Schipplock and Michael Gregoritsch have just 1 goal between them.

Hoffenheim might see the visit of Hamburg as a favourable one as they possess a very good record over their opponents Friday evening. Hoffenheim have won 3 of the last 4 meetings between the 2 sides which include some convincing results in the process (3-0, 3-0 and 1-5). Hamburg have travelled to the Wirsol Rhein-Neckar Arena on 7 occasions and came away victorious just once. Kevin Volland has scored 4 in his last 3 games and will be looking to score the goals to get Hoffenheim out of the slump they’re in.

Pavel Kaderabek enjoyed scoring against Holland for Czech Republic in their recent Euro 2016 qualifier but the Hoffenheim defender came off after 22 minutes in their defeat to Wolfsburg through injury and now looks a doubt for Friday. Hamburg are unlikely to alter much from the starting 11 that gained a point against Leverkusen providing they endure no problems in the next few days.

Hoffenheim

Stats: W-1 L-5 D-3

Recent Form - LDWDL

Hamburg

Stats: W-3 L-4 D-2

Recent Form - DWLLD

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Hoffenheim (4-4-2) – Baumann, Kim, Sule, Bicakcic, Toljan, Rudy, Strobl, Polanski, Schmid, Vargas, Volland.

Hamburg (4-2-3-1) – Adler, Diekmeier, Djourou, Spahic, Ostrzolek, Ekdal, Holtby, Muller, Hunt, Ilicevic, Lasogga.

Injury List/Suspended Players

Hoffenheim – Kaderabek (inj)
Hamburg – Hirzel (inj), Rudnevs (inj), Marcos (inj), Kacar (inj)

League Positions