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| We’re 18 rounds in to the campaign and already Bayern Munich are running away with the title |
We’re 18 rounds in to the 2017/18 Bundesliga campaign and already Bayern Munich are running away with the title. The Bavarian giants are 13 points clear of RB Leipzig in second with Schalke and Dortmund 14 and 15 points off the top. Bayern are at home to lowly Werder Bremen while Leipzig and Dortmund are both away to Freiburg and Hertha Berlin respectively.
Friday 19 January
29/10 Hertha Berlin | Draw 26/10 | Borussia Dortmund 9/10 (21:30)
Hertha Berlin didn’t enjoy their return following the winter break as they were gunned down by away at Stuttgart last week. The result would have been particularly disappointing as they’d beaten both Hannover and RB Leipzig before the break. A turnaround is required, but it won’t be easy against a Dortmund side who will look to get the second half of their season off to the best possible start. Most of the news surrounding Dortmund in the lead up to this match has been around the future of Pierre-Emrick Aubameyang who appears to have his heart set on a move to the Premier League, with Arsenal his likely destination. As a team, however, they’ve simply not been good enough this season. They were held to a disappointing 0-0 draw at home against Wolfsburg last time out – a result that has underlined their season. Difficult one to call this. You’d have to back Dortmund here, however.They’ve only lost once away from home this season and will start closing the gap on Bayern nice and early – 9/10 is a great price.
Saturday 20 January
49/20 Freiburg | 49/20 | Leipzig 11/10 (16:30)
Freiburg earned a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt last week but will need to step it up big time if they are to take points off of RB Leipzig on Saturday. Christian Streich and his men will take heart from the fact that they’ve only suffered one defeat at Schwarzwald-Stadion this season. Leipzig got the second half of their season off to the best possible start after a disappointing run of results at the back end of 2017. A convincing 3-1 win over Schalke was their first in five league matches as they allowed Bayern to disappear over the hills. Not too confident on the Leipzig win, although the Both Teams to Score market appears to offer good value at 13/20. As many as Leipzig seem to score, they concede too.
18/10 Hoffenheim | 26/10 | Bayer Leverkusen 27/20 (16:30)
Hoffenheim sit comfortably in mid-table at the moment but will look to kick on in the second half of the season. They were held to a 1-1 draw away at lowly Werder Bremen last week despite taking a first half lead and enjoying majority of the possession. They’ll need to be more ruthless – especially at home – if they do indeed harbour bigger ambitions than a mid-table finish. Leverkusen were comfortably beaten at home by Bayern Munich last week in a result that was widely expected. Heiko Herrlich will no doubt encourage his charges to put that result behind them and refocus against the more modest teams in the division. Hoffenheim have only lost once at home in the division this season. As such, back them on the Win/Draw at 11/20.
23/20 Wolfsburg | 23/10 | Eintracht Frankfurt 49/20 (16:30)
We’re off to the Volkswagen Arena next for a mid-table clash between Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt. Interestingly enough, this match features one of the worst home records in the league vs one of the best away records in the division. Frankfurt have only been defeated once on their travels this season and have an away record only bettered by Bayern. Back the away side here at crazy odds of 49/20.
33/20 Mainz | 22/10 | Stuttgart 17/10 (16:30)
Mainz are in pretty deep trouble at the minute and need to go on a bit of a run to move away from the drop zone. Not including a narrow win over bottom club Cologne in November, Sandro Schwarz and his charges haven’t won a league match in nine attempts. The winter break couldn’t have come at a better time for Stuttgart. They’d lost four league matches on the bounce without finding the back of the net before the resumption of the league saw them earn a valuable 1-0 home win against Hertha Berlin. Not too much form for either team to work with here – as such the draw is reluctantly tipped.
11/10 Borussia Monchengladbach | 51/20 | Augsburg 23/10 (16:30)
Dieter Hecking will have been seething after his side conceded a 95th-minute goal to go down 2-1 away at bottom side Cologne last weekend. They will need a big turnaround this week against an Augsburg team who are on the up. Augsburg are in confident mood at the moment and could move from seventh to third with a win on Saturday – such is the congestion at the top end of the Bundesliga at the moment. They beat Hamburg last week after a couple of average results before the break. Should be a close contest here, but the hosts should be too strong for Manuel Baum’s charges.
21/20 Hamburg | 23/10 | Cologne 11/4 (19:30)
Hamburg really have battled this season and could well be plying their trade in the second tier of German football if they don’t start getting results now. Cologne couldn’t possibly pull off the great escape… could they? They’re still rock bottom of the league but have managed wins in each of their last two matches against both Wolfsburg and Monchengladbach. They’ll be very confident heading into Saturday’s tie against second-bottom Hamburg. The away win is the way to go.
Sunday 21 January
1/8 Bayern Munich | 15/2 | Werder 16/1 (16:30)
Short and sweet here: get on the Bayern Munich (-1) Handicap here at 7/20. I just don’t see any other result.
5/10 Schalke | 32/10 | Hannover 5/1 (19:00)
Schalke have been excellent this season and find themselves in third place on the table as a result. Their home form has been solid, with Domenico Tedesco’s men only losing once at the Veltins-Arena this season. They were, however, smartly beaten by RB Leipzig last time out but shouldn’t have too many issues at home against Hannover. Hannover responded brilliantly to going two goals down against Mainz last week as Niclas Fullkrug grabbed a hat-trick to guide his side to a 3-2 win. They will need to be better this weekend, however. Conceding a 2-0 lead against Schalke will effectively end the match as a contest. Home win for me here.
TREBLE @ 10/1
Frankfurt Win 49/20
Monchengladbach Win 11/10
Schalke Win 5/10
Written by Aaron Crowie
