The next two Saturday’s Bundesliga matchups that we’ll put our eyes on are the duels at Red Bull Arena and at Imtech Arena. In Leipzig, the Bulls will lock horns with VfB Stuttgart team in order to seize the momentum after that mesmerizing win over the league leader Borussia Dortmund on the road last weekend. Their opponents also had a successful week as they defeated FC Koln at home on Saturday.
The second matchup will feature Hamburger SV who is winless in last six rounds, hosting the defending champions Bayern Munich who are coming off from a demolition of SC Freiburg last weekend at Allianz Arena (5:0). It’s money-earning time so let’s take a closer look.
RB Leipzig vs. VfB Stuttgart
Three-Way: 1: RB Leipzig -161; X: +355 Draw; 2: VfB Stuttgart +600
Spread -1: RB Leipzig -110; VfB Stuttgart +106
Total +3: Over +110; Under -115
RB LEIPZIG
The Bulls are slowly getting back to the last year’s form as they’ve managed to record three straight wins in the Bundesliga including the last week’s big win over Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park, handing the Yellow-Blacks first loss of the season. Scorers for RB Leipzig were Sabitzer, Poulsen, and Augustin while Aubameyang scored a double for the home team (2:3).
Currently, they rank at No. 3 spot in the league table with 16 points earned in eight games, one point less than second-ranked Bayern Munich and four points less than the leader Dortmund. Their record is 5-1-2 and they score 1.88 and concede 1.25 goals per game (15-10 goal difference). Every RB Leipzig’s home game had over 2.5 goals in total so far while 38% of their total matches had over 3.5 goals in total. 25% of their overall duels had over 2.5 goals at half-time and both teams scored in 62% of their total matchups.
Striker Timo Werner tops the team in scoring with five goals while Jean-Kevin Augustin has three in his account. Marcel Sabitzer who scored his first goal of the season last week collected team-high three assists while passing segment belongs to defender Dayot Upamecano with 380 total passes. Goalies Peter Gulacsi and Yvon Mvogo collected 23 saves and one clean-sheet game so far combined.
Stefan Ilsanker will not be available on Saturday because of the suspension while Fabio Colotorti (muscle) is listed as day to day.
VFB STUTTGART
The VfB Stuttgart team is the worst visitor in the German Bundesliga so far with no points earned on the road yet and a 0-0-4 record. On the other side, they’re undefeated at home, earning 10 of possible 12 points in four games and they are coming off from a home win over drowning FC Koln team. Donis and Akolo sealed the faith of the Billy Goats last Friday but now they’re facing a very hard task at Red Bull Arena.
They currently rank at No. 10 spot in the league table with 10 points earned in eight games and 6-10 goal difference (2-9 on the road). 38% of their total matches had over 2.5 goals in total while 25% of their road duels had over 3.5 goals in total. In 50% of their road games, they managed to concede at least one goal in both halves while in 38% of their total matchups both teams scored.
Chadrac Akolo tops the team in scoring with three goals so far while Holger Badstuber, Anastasios Donis, and Simon Terodde have one each in their accounts. Defender Dennis Aogo is the top assister with two while Benjamin Pavard keeps the passing game under control with 471 total passes. Goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler has 18 saves and three clean-sheet games recorded at the moment.
Anastasios Donis (shoulder) and Marcin Kaminski (ankle) are expected to be back in late November while Matthias Zimmermann’s (cruciate ligament) status is unknown. Christian Gentner (head), Ailton Ferreira Silva (ankle), Anto Grgic (ankle) and Carlos Mane (knee) are all listed as day to day.
RB Leipzig vs. VfB Stuttgart – Match Prediction
VfB Stuttgart team will eventually put up a good performance on the road but I don’t think that they have much chance against surging RB Leipzig team this weekend. My first pick here will be home team win while my additional pick will be over 3 goals in total.
My pick: RB Leipzig AH -1 (-110)
Additional pick: Over 3 goals (+110)
Hamburger SV vs. Bayern Munich
Three-Way: 1: Hamburger SV +2475; X: +750; 2: Bayern Munich -400
Spread +2: Hamburger SV +122; Bayern Munich -123
Total +3.5: Over +106; Under -111
HAMBURGER SV
After two initial wins in the first two weeks of the new Bundesliga season, the Red Shorts have recorded six straight games without a victory earning only one point during that span. Most recent flop occurred last weekend against Mainz team on the road when goals from Walace and Salihovic weren’t enough to avoid the defeat (2:3).
The team currently ranks at No. 15 spot in the Bundesliga table with seven points in eight games and they’re above the relegation line only because of their slightly better goal difference than SC Freiburg. They are 1-1-2 at home but they scored only one goal so far in front of their home crowd. Their total goal difference is 6-14 and 25% of their home games had over 2.5 goals in total while no home soil matchup had over 3.5 goals in total yet. They’ve managed to concede at least one goal in both halves in 25% of their home games while no duel at Imtech Arena this season had a both teams score epilog.
Also, no player has scored more than one goal yet as Andre Hahn, Lewis Holtby, Nicolai Muller, Sejad Salihovic, Walace and Bobby Wood all have one each so far. Walace and Albin Ekdal have one assists each while passing segment belongs to Dennis Diekmeier with 186 total passes. Goalie Christian Mathenia has 19 saves and two clean-sheet games recorded.
Nicolai Muller (cruciate ligament) will be out of action until late February next year while Vasilije Janjicic’s (virus), Sejad Salihovic’s (ankle), Douglas Santos’s (Illness) and Andreas Hirzel’s (Flu) status is unknown. Pierre-Michael Lasogga (thigh) is listed as day to day.
BAYERN MUNICH
The defending Bundesliga champions have finally put back their war colors on last week by demolishing SC Freiburg team 5:0 at Allianz Arena. Own goal by Schuster and one each by Coman, Alcantara, Lewandowki and Kimmich propelled the team to another victory that happened to be very valuable after Dortmunds’ flop at home against RB Leipzig later that day. Sacking Carlo Ancelotti and adding of Jupp Heynckes obviously had a good impact on the atmosphere of the team but we’ll see how they’ll cope this week on the road.
They currently rank at No. 2 spot in the Bundesliga table with 17 points in eight games, two less than leader Borussia. Their current record is 5-2-1 and they score 2.63 and concede 0.88 goals per match (21-7 goal difference) while 50% of their road games had over 2.5 goals in total. They’ve managed to score at least one goal in both halves in 62% of their total duels while both teams scored in 25% of their away games.
Robert Lewandowski tops the team in scoring with nine goals while Arjen Robben has two at the moment. Joshua Kimmich and Thomas Muller are the leading assisters with three each while Kimmich also holds the passing segment under control with 551 total passes so far. Goalies Manuel Neuer and Sven Ulreich have 19 saves and four clean-sheet games so far.
Franck Ribery (knee) is expected to be available in December while Manuel Neuer’s (broken foot) season is 90% over as his timetable for return is set to late April next year. Javier Martinez’s (shoulder) status is unknown while Juan Bernat (ankle) should be available in few days.
Hamburger SV vs. Bayern Munich – Match Prediction.
The Hamburger SV team is currently digging a big hole for themselves and it’s very hard to expect that they can stop doing that against Bayern Munich team. I expect the visitors’ to win but I would go with at least one goal scored by both teams as my safe pick.
My pick: Both teams score (+114)
