Bulls with tailwind at favourite stadium
Sandro Schwarz and Marco Rose are good friends. They once played together at FSV Mainz and were involved in their promotion to the Bundesliga in the 2003/04 season. Their paths have parted but will now cross on Saturday when they meet for the third time as opposing coaches. We tend to place a tip on a Marco Rose win between Hertha and RB Leipzig.
It’s not like the two coaches have met particularly often, but both previous duels have gone to the current Leipzig coach. On Saturday, two football worlds meet at the Olympiastadion. The Bullen have clearly outclassed Hertha in recent years. Since their promotion to the Bundesliga, Leipzig have scored 154 points more than the Berliners from 230 games and have finished ahead of the old lady in the standings every season.
You don’t have to be a great prophet to predict that the Saxons will do better this season, too. Nevertheless, they have fallen short of expectations this season. At the moment, the Bullen are in fifth place with 45 points. That is too little, because at least fourth place and the Champions League are RasenBallsport’s goals.
The Berliners, on the other hand, have big relegation worries again this season. Sandro Schwarz’s team is currently in the relegation zone. With a win, however, they could theoretically jump to 15th place. A defeat, on the other hand, would be a major setback and we would tend to predict a win for the visitors in the Hertha vs RB Leipzig clash.
Hertha – Statistics & current form
Is it smart, or rather negligent, for Hertha to go for continuity in the relegation battle? The Berliners are the only club at the bottom of the league table not to have fired their coach. That is almost a curiosity at the old lady, as it is now four years since Hertha BSC completed a full season with the same coach.
Four games without a win
As things stand, however, it cannot be ruled out that a fireman will have to take over at the end of the season after all. After a good phase, the Berliners have recently suffered setbacks again. The capital club has now gone four games without a win. Now, however, it is particularly important to gain some breathing space in the relegation battle with victories.
After all, there was an unexpected point gain at SC Freiburg last weekend. In fact, the Berliners delivered a strong game and never buried their heads in the sand, even after trailing 0:1. Their efforts were then rewarded, as Jessic Ngankam scored a quarter of an hour before the end to equalise 1-1.
Now they can certainly be happy about a point in Breisgau, but it is just not a good omen either, because it has been half a year since the Berliners have scored in two consecutive Bundesliga games. We don’t expect that streak to end on Saturday, then, in the clash between Hertha and RB Leipzig, we’re looking predominantly at the odds that have something to do with an away win.
Last matches played by Hertha:
Bundesliga
01/04/2023 – SC Freiburg 1 – 1 Hertha BSC
Friendly club matches
24/03/2023 – Berliner AK 07 1 – 5 Hertha BSC
Bundesliga
18/03/2023 – Hoffenheim 3 – 1 Hertha BSC
11/03/2023 – Hertha BSC 1 – 1 Mainz 05
05/03/2023 – Bayer Leverkusen 4 – 1 Hertha BSC
RB Leipzig – Statistics & current form
The Berlin Olympiastadion is the site of RasenBallsport Leipzig’s greatest sporting success. Last year, the Saxons won the first title in the club’s history there in the DFB Cup. Now they are returning to the site of this triumph for the first time. The coach may be different now, but many of the players in the squad were involved in last season’s final against SC Freiburg.
Turnaround achieved?
Lately, it looked as if Marco Rose would not be in charge of the Bullen for much longer either. The disastrous exit in the Champions League was followed by two more defeats in the Bundesliga without a goal of their own. In the meantime, however, the Leipzigers have extricated themselves from this minor crisis and preserved their chances of defending the title with victory over Borussia Dortmund in the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup on Wednesday.
Against BVB, RB showed a great performance. Marco Reus, for example, was later to talk about Dortmund being eaten up by the bulls. A much greater compliment cannot be paid to one’s opponent. Timo Werner gave his side an early lead, but it then took until stoppage time before Willi Orban made it 2-0 after a counterattack.
With this tailwind, RB now takes on Berlin and we think that with the increased self-confidence, more goals will be scored. Therefore, we would venture a prediction of more than 2.5 goals between Hertha and RB Leipzig, even if the Saxons’ key player Christopher Nkunku is still out of the game.
Last matches of RB Leipzig:
DFB Cup
06/04/2023 – RB Leipzig 2 – 0 Borussia Dortmund
Bundesliga
01/04/2023 – RB Leipzig 0 – 3 Mainz 05
18/03/2023 – VfL Bochum 1 – 0 RB Leipzig
Champions League Final
15/03/2023 – Manchester City 7 – 0 RB Leipzig
Bundesliga
11/03/2023 – RB Leipzig 3 – 0 Gladbach
Hertha – RB Leipzig Direct comparison / H2H balance
We have already mentioned that Berlin’s Olympiastadion is closely linked with RB Leipzig’s history. However, the venerable arena is also by far the stadium in which the Bulls prefer to play, with the exception of the Red Bull Arena. The Saxons have been guests there six times in the Bundesliga and have won all of these games at Hertha.
In general, RB has not won as many games against any other Bundesliga team and has scored as many goals as against the old lady. Accordingly, the direct comparison also speaks clearly in favour of the Leipzigers, who have eleven wins, one draw and only one defeat against Hertha to their credit. In the first leg, the Bullen led 3-0 at home after goals from Emil Forsberg, Abdou Diallo and Willi Orban, but had to shake for victory until the end after conceding goals from Dodi Lukebakio and Stevan Jovetic.
Hertha – RB Leipzig Tip
The pressure is on the shoulders of the old lady, who will be dragged further into the relegation maelstrom with a defeat. It is hard to assume that things will turn out differently, as the Berliners have not won in their last four Bundesliga games. Moreover, the Bullen are a kind of fearful opponent for the Herthans. One win from 13 games is a very poor record for the capital club.
On top of that, the Bullen have won all of their six guest games at the Olympiastadion and now seem to be getting back on track after a weak phase. The victory in the DFB Cup against Borussia Dortmund at least gave an indication of what the Saxons are capable of.
However, we still have a little residual doubt. This is due to the good performance of the Berliners in Freiburg last week. Even against teams that are rated much stronger, the old lady tries to get her points. That is why we are not going for the winner in this game, but have decided to play the betting odds on more than 2.5 goals between Hertha and RB Leipzig.
