Hoffenheim vs Hamburger SV: Preview and Prediction

Hoffenheim vs Hamburger SV
German Bundesliga
Date: Sunday 20th November, 2016
Kick-off: 14:30 UK
Venue: WIRSOL Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim.

Hoffenheim will have a great opportunity to maintain the fine form and back up the huge draw from Allianz Arena before the international break. They will be hosting one of the weakest teams in the competition in the first match of the day on Sunday.

Hamburger SV are currently rock bottomed and they are the only team, together with Ingolstadt, yet to celebrate the first victory in the new season of Bundesliga. It is really hard to believe that Markus Gisdol’s men will manage to end the negative run at EIRSOL Rhein-Neckar-Arena because Hoffenheim have three wins in a row there.

Julian Nagelsmann can be proud on his work on Hoffenheim’s bench this season since the team is yet to suffer a defeat in the new season. They have managed to grab five consecutive wins in Bundesliga before the already mentioned 1 – 1 draw with the reigning champions Bayern Munich in the last round. Nagelsmann will be handicapped without Marco Uth, Sandro Wanger and Lukas Rupp which will leave Andrej Kramaric and Eduardo Vargas (who is still waiting on his first goal in Hoffenheim’s shirt this season) as the main options up front.

Markus Gisdol will also be handicapped since his main option up front, Bobby Wood (who scored a goal in the international action against Mexico) is sidelined due to the suspension (red card). It is thus really hard to figure who of HSV’s players will be able to represent a threat for Hoffenheim’s goal since Wood was the only scorer before the last round’s 2 – 5 defeat to Borussia Dortmund.

Hoffenheim vs Hamburger SV: Head-to-Head Stats

Interestingly, Hoffenheim have been slightly better in head to head encounters, winning seven matches. Hamburger SV have six victories, and it is hard to believe that they will be able to level the score considering the poor form at the start of the new season. Hoffenheim have won the last encounter, in March this year, with 1 – 3 away from home when Kramaric, Volland and Vargas scored goals.

Hoffenheim vs Hamburger SV: Prediction

We truly see a decent value in backing the hosts to claim three points with the 3/5 odds. The alternative bet will be Under 2.5 goals in the match since the both teams are quite handicapped up front, and since you can get huge value 27/20 odds on such a pick!