Will both teams get their cup frustrations off their chest?
The TSG Hoffenheim and Borussia Dortmund experienced their blue miracle in the DFB Cup during the week. Despite being favourites, the Sinsheim side lost at home to SC Freiburg in the round of 16 with a clear 1:4 defeat, while the black-and-yellow team was surprisingly beaten away from home by second-division team St. Pauli with a 1:2 defeat. The frustration on both sides is now correspondingly great.
And it is precisely this frustration that two of the highest-scoring teams of the last few weeks want to get off their chest. In the run-up to the encounter between Hoffenheim and Dortmund, the odds are accordingly interesting that many goals will be scored at the PreZero Arena in Sinsheim.
While the Westphalians have already scored eight goals in both league games in the 2022 calendar year, TSG have 20 goals on record in their last eight league games. Both teams are also known for scoring late goals, with 13 goals each in the final quarter of an hour (joint Bundesliga best).
Accordingly, we see a lot of value in betting on Hoffenheim against Dortmund to score more than 3.5 goals in this match.
Hoffenheim – Statistics & current form
TSG Hoffenheim did not initially get off to the best start to the new season after a mixed 2020/21 season that ended in eleventh place in the final table. Although the Sinsheim team was in second place after the first two match days, it then bumbled around in the dreary midfield of the table until the twelfth match day.
Then, however, the knot burst. Because the Kraichgau side remained unbeaten in seven consecutive league games, picking up 17 of a possible 21 points, they climbed up to third place.
Recently lost two competitive games in a row again
It was only last weekend that Sebastian Hoeneß’ side’s run of form came to an end with a 2-1 defeat at 1. FC Union Berlin. Nevertheless, Hoffenheim still enter matchday 20 in fourth place in the table.
However, instead of recovering from this setback during the week, the next setback came in the DFB Cup. The 4-1 home defeat also put an early end to any hopes of winning the title in this competition, in which all the winners of the last 26 years have already failed to win.
Only lost one of the last eight home games against Dortmund
The clash with the Black and Yellows, who themselves suffered a bitter disappointment in the cup, is correspondingly groundbreaking. The bookmakers do not necessarily expect TSG to be able to redeem themselves.
While the Sinsheim side have only lost one of their last eight home games in the Bundesliga against BVB. However, under Sebastian Hoeneß, only one point out of a possible nine has been picked up in their last three clashes with Borussia….
Projected line-up of Hoffenheim:
Baumann – Raum – Vogt – Grillitsch – Posch – Akpoguma – Geiger – Rudy – Kramaric – Dabbur – Bebou
Last matches played by Hoffenheim:
DFB Cup
01/19 2022 – Hoffenheim 1 – 4 SC Freiburg
1st Bundesliga
01/15 2022 – Union Berlin 2 – 1 Hoffenheim
01/08 2022 – Hoffenheim 3 – 1 Augsburg
12/18 2021 – Hoffenheim 1 – 1 Borussia Mönchengladbach
12/15 2021 – Bayer Leverkusen 2 – 2 Hoffenheim
Dortmund – Statistics & current form
For Borussia Dortmund, a great title hope burst during the week. After FC Bayern surprisingly lost to Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 2nd round of the DFB Cup, defending champions BVB were considered the big favourites to win the German Cup again.
However, the Westphalians were defeated by a second-division team in the round of 16, and their 2-1 defeat at FC St. Pauli was even more severe than the supposedly close result would suggest. Before scoring the final goal on penalties, the Kiezkickers missed a great chance to make it 3:0.
Four of the nine Bundesliga away games lost
All the more pronounced was the mood of crisis in the team’s environment after the inglorious exit in the cup, which recently suffered from the unrest surrounding the statements of Erling Haaland, who criticised in an interview that he was being pressured by BVB to make a decision regarding his future.
Now Borussia must be careful not to lose their chances of winning the German championship with a defeat in Sinsheim, as they are already six points behind Bayern. Marco Rose’s men have already lost four of their nine away games in the Bundesliga.
Keep a clean sheet for the first time twice in 19 league games
If Hoffenheim’s hopes of a three-goal win at the PreZero Arena against Dortmund are to be fulfilled, they will not only need to regain their defensive stamina from the victories over Frankfurt and Freiburg, when BVB scored a total of eight goals. The defence must also finally be stable again.
In only two of the 19 league games of the 2021/22 season have the Borussians played to nil so far. Not since the 1984/85 season has a Dortmund team kept a clean sheet…
Dortmund’s likely line-up:
Kobel – Guerreiro – Hummels – Akanji – Meunier – Dahoud – Bellingham – Brandt – Malen – Reus – Haaland
Last matches played by Dortmund:
DFB Cup
01/18 2022 – St. Pauli 2 – 1 Borussia Dortmund
1st Bundesliga
01/14 2022 – Borussia Dortmund 5 – 1 SC Freiburg
01/08 2022 – Eintracht Frankfurt 2 – 3 Borussia Dortmund
12/18 2021 – Hertha Berlin 3 – 2 Borussia Dortmund
12/15 2021 – Borussia Dortmund 3 – 0 Greuther Fürth
Hoffenheim – Dortmund Direct Comparison / H2H Balance
Head to head: 7 – 10 – 12
The two teams have faced each other a total of 29 times so far and BVB lead the direct comparison with twelve victories. Most recently, the black-and-yellows remained unbeaten against TSG three times in a row (two wins, one draw). However, only one of the last eight league games has been won away from home in Sinsheim.
Hoffenheim – Dortmund tip
When it comes to Hoffenheim against Dortmund, the prediction tends to go to Borussia. However, the match is extremely difficult to predict because TSG were in very good form before losing their two most recent competitive matches and have recently picked up 19 out of a possible 21 points from their last seven home matches in league play. Accordingly, it is not out of the question that at least one point or more will remain in the Kraichgau, especially since BVB have lost four of their nine Bundesliga away games.
It makes sense to bet that both teams, whose strength is their forward play anyway and whose defence is not always stable, will now get the cup frustration off their chest in all its forms.
We therefore recommend betting on more than 3.5 goals, for which betting odds of 2.00 are available for Hoffenheim against Dortmund.
