📰 Table Of Contents
Weekend Talking Points
ℹ️ Timo Werner suffered an ankle injury last night in the win over Shakhtar Donetsk.
Scans today in Leipzig showed that he has unfortunately torn the syndesmosis ligament in his left ankle and will therefore be out for the rest of 2022. pic.twitter.com/tLLAfxb2op
— RB Leipzig English (@RBLeipzig_EN) November 3, 2022
Borussia Dortmund will have to do without two more players, Marius Wolf and Tom Rothe, in the three remaining Bundesliga games until the World Cup break.
Get well soon, boys! 🍀 pic.twitter.com/Ap8S0WuVGw
— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) November 3, 2022
Check out this looping header ➿ from Niclas Füllkrug!
The @WerderBremen_en striker now has 9️⃣ #Bundesliga goals to his name this season and remains the league’s joint top goalscorer. 👏 pic.twitter.com/6MzCmtArTi
— Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) November 3, 2022
Union Berlin midfielder Rani Khedira confirms he’s in Germany’s provisional squad for the World Cup: “I was informed that I was on Hansi Flick’s list. It’s a bit surreal, like the current table” [Sky] 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/uUvO2LLPEN
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) October 31, 2022
Danish talented midfielder Zidan Sertdemir [2005] could leave Bayer Leverkusen in January — many clubs are actively working to sign him. 🔴⭐️ #BayerLeverkusen
Sertdemir joined Leverkusen in June 2021 but there are new opportunities now discussed. pic.twitter.com/RaFBuPrDLb
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 28, 2022
Former France midfielder Samir Nasri: “If PSG want to go to the next level, they need the mentality of Bayern Munich. Bayern already had 15 points before facing Inter Milan and they smashed them. They finished with 18 points, they always want to win” [@canalplus] pic.twitter.com/NLvbFQsFGJ
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) November 3, 2022
Match Predictions & Betting Tips
Borussia Mönchengladbach (11th) – VfB Stuttgart (15th)
Form: Gladbach (2-1-3) – Stuttgart (2-0-4)
Key personnel missing:
Gladbach – Florian Neuhaus, Hannes Wolf, Ko Itakura, Jonas Hofmann (fitness), Nico Elvedi (illness), Yann Sommer (doubt)
Stuttgart – Josha Vagnoman (fitness), Dan-Axel Zagadou (flu), Konstantinos Mavropanos (doubt), Enzo Millot (doubt)
Match preview:
Stuttgart have taken six points from a possible nine in their last three fixtures and have not lost against Gladbach – home or away – in any of their last five meetings, but the visitors have struggled away from home all season and cannot boast a single win on the road.
Gladbach’s recent resurgence has come to an end of late, with just one point in their last three fixtures but did well with wins against Köln and RBL in the not-too-distant past this season. Gladbach has one of the better home records in the division as well, and that could squeak them over the line here.
Prediction: Gladbach 1-0 Stuttgart
FC Augsburg (13th) – Eintracht Frankfurt (5th)
Form: Augsburg (2-2-2) – Frankfurt (4-0-2)
Key personnel missing:
Augsburg – Tobias Strobl, Noah Sarenren Bazee, André Hahn, Niklas Dorsch, Carlos Gruezo (red card), Elvis Rexhbecaj (red card), Reece Oxford (fitness), Robert Gumny (doubt)
Frankfurt – Makoto Hasebe, Aurélio Buta, Christopher Lenz (doubt)
Match preview:
Champions League knockout stage-bound Eintracht Frankfurt returns home to Germany’s financial capital after a successful away day in Lisbon to clash with a more familiar foe in Bavarian outfit Augsburg at WWK Arena and look intent on getting back to winning ways on the home front after last weekend’s loss to Borussia Dortmund.
Frankfurt has won four of their last six and remains in the fight for the top four places, while Augsburg has been hit by a rash of fitness and suspension concerns while having failed to win in any of their last four fixtures. Frankfurt has only lost once in their previous six meeting with Augsburg (3-2-1), so an away win could be on the cards here despite Augsburg having no midweek commitments.
Prediction: Augsburg 1-2 Frankfurt
Hertha BSC (14th) – Bayern Munich (2nd)
Form: Hertha (1-3-2) – Bayern (4-1-1)
Key personnel missing:
Hertha – Rune Jarstein (out indefinitely), Jessic Ngankam, Stevan Jovetic, Márton Dárdai, Kelian Nsona, Wilfried Kanga (illness)
Bayern – Thomas Müller, Bouna Sarr, Lucas Hernández (doubt), Manuel Neuer (doubt), Leroy Sané (doubt), Matthijs de Ligt (doubt)
Match preview:
It will be action stations in the German capital on Saturday when Hertha BSC welcomes Bayern Munich to the Olympiastadion during what can only be described as yet another frustrating Bundesliga campaign for one half of Berlin as Hertha remains just outside of the relegation zone.
Hertha’s lone win in their last six came against hapless Schalke, and though they picked up three draws in the same time frame, they are a far cry from what the club was hoping for when they compare themselves to city rivals Union who has shot to prominence since promotion.
The test against Bayern will no doubt prove to be one-way traffic after Bayern made it six wins from six in the Champions League group stage despite some fitness concerns for Julian Nagelsmann, but Bayern has won five of their last six against Hertha (5-1-0) while boasting an undefeated record in their last five in the Bundesliga (4-1-0). Nagelsmann’s’ troops should be comfortable here.
Prediction: Hertha 0-3 Bayern
1. FSV Mainz 05 (9th) – VfL Wolfsburg (12th)
Form: Mainz (2-2-2) – Wolfsburg (2-3-1)
Key personnel missing:
Mainz – Maxim Leitsch (out indefinitely), Marlon Mustapha, Danny da Costa (doubt; illness)
Wolfsburg – Max Kruse, Kevin Paredes, Bartol Franjic, Patrick Wimmer (doubt)
Match preview:
Mainz come into the weekend on the back of a 6-2 drubbing at the hands of Bayern Munich but that result was an outlier this season – as well as last – as M05 is much better defensively than that result showed.
But their usual stoutness in front of home support has waned this season and it could be poor timing to come up against a much-improved Wolfsburg who are undefeated in their last five fixtures in the league (2-3-0).
Neither side have massive fitness issues, so this could strictly come down to form here. Mainz was in good stead before the Bayern result (2-1-0) which included wins against Köln and Bremen. Both sides are capable if they turn up and are quite even despite the points totals in the table. A draw would not be a surprise here.
Prediction: Mainz 1-1 Wolfsburg
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (7th) – RB Leipzig (6th)
Form: Hoffenheim (1-3-2) – RBL (3-2-1)
Key personnel missing:
Hoffenheim – Benjamin Hübner, Luca Philipp, Ozan Kabak (red card), Ermin Bicakcic (fitness), Ihlas Bebou (doubt), Andrej Kramaric (doubt), Pavel Kaderábek (doubt), Munas Dabbur (doubt), Kevin Vogt (doubt)
RBL – Timo Werner, Péter Gulácsi, Konrad Laimer, Lukas Klostermann, Benjamin Henrichs (red card), Marcel Halstenberg (fitness), Dani Olmo (doubt), Yussuf Poulsen (doubt)
Match preview:
Decisions, decisions, decisions; Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig clash in Sinsheim in the midst of selection concerns for both André Breitenreiter and Marco Rose as RBL bring strong form at home and abroad into the mix this weekend, fresh off the back of a 4-0 win at Shakhtar Donetsk and a five-match undefeated run in the Bundesliga.
By contrast, Hoffenheim has just one win in their last five but could be banking on RBL’s poor away form in the league (0-3-3) to play a key role at the weekend after their away day in the Champions League. The added concern of the injury development surrounding Timo Werner adds further questions for Rose, but RBL still has very credible attacking options remaining.
The same can be said for Hoffenheim, who themselves could be stripped of options in the forward line and typically do not fair well against RBL and are in the midst of a winless run at home. Despite the struggles, a high-scoring draw could result here but an RBL win is hardly out of the realm of possibility.
Prediction: Hoffenheim 2-2 RBL
Borussia Dortmund (14th) – VfL Bochum (17th)
Form: Dortmund (3-1-2) – Bochum (2-1-3)
Key personnel missing:
Dortmund – Sébastien Haller (out indefinitely), Thomas Meunier, Mahmoud Dahoud, Mateu Morey, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Marco Reus (doubt), Marius Wolf (doubt), Mats Hummels (doubt), Raphaël Guerreiro (doubt), Gregor Kobel (doubt), Tom Rothe (doubt)
Bochum – Dominique Heintz, Paul Grave, Jacek Góralski, Takuma Asano (doubt), Simon Zoller (doubt), Erhan Masovic (doubt)
Match preview:
Borussia Dortmund returns to the Westfalenstadion after successfully making their way into the knockout stage of the Champions League and looks to make it three wins from three this weekend against relegation-battling Bochum in a Ruhr valley derby.
Edin Terzić’s men have been decimated once again by fitness concerns this season and could be without up to eleven players depending on who recovers in time for Saturday, but that should really not stop Die Schwarzgelben from bagging all three points against a Bochum outfit that, though beating both Union Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt in recent weeks, have not won away from home all season (0-0-6).
Dortmund is improved but still not the best version of themselves just yet, but that should be no excuse for a club of their size to struggle this weekend. Terzić’s men to win.
Prediction: Dortmund 2-0 Bochum
SV Werder Bremen (8th) – FC Schalke 04 (18th)
Form: Bremen (3-2-1) – Schalke (0-0-6)
Key personnel missing:
Bremen – Jean-Manuel Mbom, Felix Agu
Schalke – Ibrahima Cissé, Thomas Ouwejan, Leo Greiml, Sepp van den Berg, Marcin Kaminski, Rodrigo Zalazar
Match preview:
A clash of promoted sides takes place at the Weserstadion to close the book on Saturday’s fixture program when Werder Bremen lock horns with Schalke along the banks of the Weser, with the two outfits enjoying contrasting seasons back in the German top flight.
Schalke is, once more, fighting relegation as the club continues to perform far below their domestic status in Germany and sit bottom of the table in the midst of a six-match losing run but will hope that new manager Thomas Reis can extract something from their travels against a Bremen outfit that sits in the top half of the table and with joint-top scorer Niclas Füllkrug leading the line.
Bremen owns the recent head-to-head record between the two (3-2-1) and boasts an essentially fully-fit squad for manager Ole Werner to select from in what will no doubt be a hotly contested affair that Bremen should emerge from on top.
Prediction: Bremen 2-1 Schalke
Bayer Leverkusen (16th) – Union Berlin (1st)
Form: Leverkusen (2-1-3) – Union (4-0-2)
Key personnel missing:
Leverkusen – Florian Wirtz (fitness), Karim Bellarabi (fitness), Sardar Azmoun (doubt)
Union – None
Match preview:
On paper, many may feel that this is a result that speaks for itself on Sunday when table-topping Union Berlin travels to the BayArena to clash with lowly Bayer Leverkusen, with Xabi Alonso’s men sitting sixteenth while still embarking on their worst campaign in four decades.
Union was in action away from home on Thursday against Union St.Gilloise in the Europa League and came away winners while Leverkusen kept Club Brugge quiet in a 0-0 affair. Leverkusen not only avoided midweek travel but have two extra days rest, which could be a factor here despite their poor run of form.
Alonso nearly has a clean bill of health, with Florian Wirtz, Karim Bellarabi, and Sardar Azmoun all nearly back for selection but the trio will still miss the weekend, while Urs Fischer has no fitness concerns to speak of. Union has struggled away from home as late and overall has been dropped twice in their recent results which included a shock loss to Bochum but did also beat both Dortmund and Gladbach. This is tough to call, and any result could genuinely transpire, but Union might sneak a difficult win.
Prediction: Leverkusen 1-2 Union
SC Freiburg (3rd) – 1. FC Köln (10th)
Form: Freiburg (3-1-2) – Köln (2-2-2)
Key personnel missing:
Freiburg – Kimberly Ezekwem, Jonathan Schmid (doubt), Manuel Gulde (doubt), Kevin Schade (doubt)
Köln – Dejan Ljubicic, Julian Chabot, Mathias Olesen, Sebastian Andersson, Dimitris Limnios, Florian Dietz, Jan Thielmann (fitness), Kristian Pedersen (doubt), Jonas Hector (doubt), Tim Lemperle (doubt), Ellyes Skhiri (doubt)
Match preview:
High-flying Freiburg is back at the foot of their beloved Black Forest after a long European midweek that saw them travel to Baku to clash with Qarabag FK in the Europa League and are set to welcome visiting Köln in an intriguing bookend to matchday 13.
Köln, unfortunately, has been decimated by injury of late and could be without up to eleven players if none pass fit for service by Sunday, making their jaunt to Europa-Park Stadion that much more difficult against a Freiburg outfit that continues to, like Union Berlin, mix it up properly with the upper echelon of the Bundesliga.
Christian Streich’s men are on a run of two matches where they have taken three points while bagging a clean sheet in both, while Köln has been in patchy form overall of later while also surrendering 16 goals in their last six fixtures. Despite their fitness concerns, they always present a tricky adversary but Freiburg could still win here despite their long-haul away day on Thursday.
Prediction: Freiburg 2-1 Köln
