The 2015/16 Bundesliga season opened in electric fashion with current champions Bayern Munich romping to a 5-0 victory over helpless Hamburg. Yet this was not the biggest statement of intent made over the passing weekend. Dortmund put a lacklustre 2014/15 season behind them with a shockingly ruthless 4-0 victory over automatic Champions League qualifiers and Borussen rivals, Gladbach. It must be noted that no such statements were made on the punting front. Both of the promoted sides ended with positive results while some of last season’s strugglers returned reinvigorated. Let’s try and find some winners to make amends this weekend.
Friday 21 August
Hertha Berlin 11/10 | Draw 24/10 | Werder Bremen 26/10
Hertha Berlin will be pleased to have begun the coming season with three points on the road against tough opposition. Having only avoided last year’s relegation play-off by virtue of goal difference, coach Pal Dardai would’ve earmarked this season as a chance for the men from the capital to re-establish themselves as a top flight entity. A 1-0 win at Augsburg courtesy of a Salomon Kalou penalty in a match in which both sides were reduced to ten men may not have been the most emphatic way to announce their ambitions, but beggars can’t be choosers. Werder Bremen’s 3-0 home loss to Schalke would’ve conjured unwelcome memories of the beginning of last term and having not adequately addressed the departures of key personnel, may struggle to get their season off the ground once again. Hertha Berlin haven’t lost to Werder Bremen in the capital since 2009/10, last year holding them to a draw in this fixture. I fancy Berlin to get up for the win at 11/10.
Saturday 22 August
Hoffenheim 72/10 | Draw 47/10 | Bayern Munich 3/10
Steven Zuber put Hoffenheim in front within five minutes at BayArena, only for Leverkusen to equalise on the stroke of halftime and battle back to collect the win with twenty minutes left to play. Hoffenheim were pegged back inside their half for the most part after scoring and it already seems as though it is going to be a long season for Markus Gisdol and his cohorts. Munich were superb in their 5-0 dismantling of Hamburg, sending an early warning sign to all and sundry that an unprecedented fourth straight Bundesliga title is theirs to lose. Medhi Benatia netted to take Bayern into the break one goal to the good. Subsequently, Lewandowski struck before Thomas Muller scored twice in four minutes, the tally rounded out by Douglas Costa on the back of a glittering league debut. They’ll win this one as well, in style. Over 3.5 Goals at 19/20 is the bet here.
Hannover 7/2 | Draw 11/4 | Bayer Leverkusen 15/20


Schalke 9/20 | Draw 36/10 | Darmstadt 57/10
New Schalke boss Andre Breitenreiter began his tenure with a convincing 3-0 victory at Werder Bremen, however, the three points came at a price. Central defender Matija Nastasic ruptured his Achilles tendon and will be out for at least six months after undergoing surgery. Still, Schalke’s dominance on the front foot was something that was largely missing from the back end of last season, and Roberto Di Matteo’s reign. They have a talented crop of players and have managed to keep hold of exciting 19-year-old Leroy Sane, who covered the length of the field before offloading to Klaas Jan Huntelaar for Schalke’s third. Darmstadt made a promising start to life in the top flight with a point at home against Hannover and should probably have secured maximum points in theory. They’ll need a miracle to get anything out of this match. Schalke at 9/20 looks a sure bet.
Eintracht Frankfurt 11/10 | Draw 5/2 | Augsburg 9/4
Frankfurt may feel slightly hard done by after leaving Wolfsburg without a share of the spoils last weekend. The Eagles went two down but managed to pull back a goal almost immediately through Stefan Reinartz. They then went on to have the better of the second-half against first-rate opposition, but lacked a finisher in the mould of Alexander Meier, missing through injury. Just as in seasons past, Augsburg’s began with a loss. They went down 1-0 at home against Hertha Berlin and lost forward Raul Bobadilla to a red card. They’ve also lost left-back Baba Rahman to Chelsea and it seems that their spot in the Europa League from last season will be a feat tough to replicate. Neither side could come up with the goods last week but Frankfurt certainly showed better intent. Back the home side at 11/10.
Cologne 32/10 | Draw 11/4 | Wolfsburg 8/10

Hamburg 18/10 | Draw 23/10 | Stuttgart 29/20
It’s been a rough start to the new season for the Bundesliga’s longest serving and currently most tumultuous club. First they crashed out of the DFB-Pokal losing 3-2 to fourth-tier Carl Zeiss Jena. Later that day, sporting director Peter Knebal lost a confidential knapsack and then it was revealed that Hamburg had been selling T-shirts in the club shop with a picture of Hertha Berlin supporters. They missed out on the loan deal for Barcelona midfielder Alen Halilovic, and to top things off, were thrashed 5-0 by Bayern Munich and the only positive they could take from the whole situation was that it was an improvement on last season’s 9-2 and 8-0 embarrassments. Stuttgart began with a home loss to long time nemesis Cologne and the smiles from last season’s escape would have slowly faded. Under 2.5 goals looks a good bet here, available at even money.
Sunday 23 August
Ingolstadt 57/10 | Draw 36/10 | Borussia Dortmund 9/20
Newly promoted Ingolstadt made a dream start to life in the top flight. Lukas Hinterseer’s historic strike saw the club leave Mainz with all three points in their Bundesliga debut. They took some time to settle in but soon gained the upper hand and made the goal advantage count. Dortmund’s manner in which they thrashed Gladbach 4-0 will bring fans of the club delight. Thomas Tuchel has managed to tweak their playing style into a more possession based brand of football, as opposed to Klopp’s counter-attacking tendencies. This showed in a more assured defensive display and benefitted the side going forward. Henrikh Mkhitaryan has netted six times in four competitive matches this season, which is already one more than all of his 42 appearances last season. There’s no reason not to back Dortmund with 9/20 on offer.
Borussia Monchengladbach 7/10 | Draw 28/10 | Mainz 37/10

Bundesliga Picks
Hertha Berlin WIN 11/10
Hoffenheim OVER 3.5 GOALS 19/20
Bayer Leverkusen WIN 15/20
Schalke WIN 9/20
Frankfurt WIN 11/10
Cologne WIN/DRAW 19/20
Hamburg UNDER 2.5 GOALS 1/1
Dortmund WIN 9/20
Monchengladbach WIN 7/10
Written by Rick John Henry for @Hollywoodbets. Follow them both on Twitter and Facebook now!