Tightly-Contested Bundesliga Battles Provide Opportunities for Bettors

The race for Europe is on in the Bundesliga. There are several teams harbouring Champions League ambitions and the congested nature has filtered down into the second division.  

10 points separate 3rd from 11th in the top tier of German football and Koln, the Bundesliga 2. leaders, are just 10 clear of 10th, presenting an opportunity for punters. 

Odds courtesy of bet365. Correct at time of publishing and subject to change.

Stuttgart Poised to Climb into the Top Four

Bayern Munich and the reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen have pulled away from the pack in the Bundesliga but the race for the European places is hotly-contested. Eintracht Frankfurt currently occupy third place after a fantastic first half of the season but there is just a 10-point gap to 11th place, Borussia Dortmund.

Dortmund finished 5th last season and reached the Champions League final. Edin Terzic departed the club in the summer and their disastrous away form under Nuri Sahin has left them scrambling to qualify for Europe. Niko Kovac took charge of his first game as Dortmund boss last weekend and they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat at home to Stuttgart despite conceding just four shots. Die Borussen will have to put together a remarkable run to secure a place in Europe’s elite club competition for next season.

Stuttgart finished 2nd last season but also have work to do to make it into the Champions League. There is no guarantee that Germany’s 5th-place team will make it into the competition this time around.

Sebastian Hoeneß’s side have won seven of their last 11 games in the Bundesliga and are trending upwards after a rocky start to the season. During that impressive run, they have scored an average of 1.82 goals per game and conceded just 1.09. Stuttgart also have the fourth-best xG in the division with an average of 1.83 per game. Their dangerous attack and improving defence should give them the edge over both RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt in the months to come. 

With Dortmund stumbling, there is an opportunity for Stuttgart, a team who were in the second division as recently as 2020 to establish themselves as a Champions League team but the congested nature of the table means there should be plenty of twists and turns along the way. 

Hamburg’s Attack Means They’re Value

The Bundesliga 2. table is even more congested than the top tier of German football. Incredibly, just 10 points separate 1st place, Koln and 10th place, Karlsruhe. The league leaders are on 40 points and are being pursued by both Hamburg and Kaiserslautern who are just two behind.

Hamburg beat Koln in front of over 50 thousand fans at home last month and they will fancy their chances of securing automatic promotion. Merlin Polzin’s side have the best attack in the league, scoring an average of 2.24 goals per game, 0.53 more than the league leaders. Die Rothosen are also the team who are in the best form with their last league defeat coming in early November. They have drawn four games since then but have managed four wins in their last five league outings. Hamburg’s swashbuckling attack should serve them well in the weeks to come. Davie Selke has scored seven goals in the eight matches since the winter break. 

Koln have a slender two-point advantage over Hamburg ahead of the weekend’s action. They were relegated from the top tier of German football last season but are well-placed to return to the top flight. Gerhard Struber’s side have the second-best defensive record, conceding an average of just 1.19 goals per game. Die Geißböcke deserve their favourites tag but the betting value for promotion is on Hamburg. 

SAFER GAMBLING

At bettingexpert, we always take a safe approach to gambling. We’ll never bet more than we can afford or chase losses. For more advice, head to our Safer Gambling hub.