Who will manage the important breakthrough?

To speak of a crisis duel after just five match days is certainly an exaggeration. Nevertheless, it is clear that neither opponent can be satisfied with the way the season has gone so far. If the betting tip of a home win for Bochum against Wolfsburg does not pan out, the team from the Ruhr area would also remain completely winless after six match days. So far, Bochum have only picked up one out of a possible 15 points.

With just three more points on the account, the Wolves are experiencing their second-worst Bundesliga start since the championship season of 2008/09. This is not least due to the fact that in 2024/25 there have already been seven Bundesliga goals conceded after dead balls – a league-wide record. Accordingly, a prediction of an away win for Wolfsburg at Bochum is risky.

The poor form of both teams is striking. If you exclude all promoted and relegated teams, no Bundesliga teams have scored as few points as Bochum (18) and Wolfsburg (22) in the 2024 calendar year. This is mainly due to two factors. Firstly, the Blue-Whites (40 percent) and Green-Whites (37 percent) are the two Bundesliga teams with the least possession in the current season. And secondly, both clubs have already squandered eight points after taking the lead on just five matchdays.

So as soon as one team takes the lead, the other should have a good chance of adding to it, which is why we think the best value can be found in betting on goals on both sides. Alternatively, ODDSET also offers bets on over 2.5 goals at odds of 1.60.

Bochum vs. Wolfsburg AI prediction

While BETSiE has a hard time identifying a clear value tip for some matches in the German top flight, the AI forecast for Bochum vs. Wolfsburg is crystal clear. The supercomputer suggests a tip for an away win for Wolfsburg, whose chance of an away win in the Ruhr area is estimated at 51.28 percent.

On the other hand, because we find odds of 2.26 for Tip 2 in the Intertops app, which suggests a probability of victory for Lower Saxony of just 44.23 percent and BETSiE is over seven percent (!) higher, Tip 2 is the AI’s top recommendation from a mathematical point of view.

Incidentally, this does not stand in the way of our tip, because the BETSiE also tends to assume goals on both sides. While Bochum is assigned an expected goals value of 1.01, the supercomputer suggests 1.61 for Wolfsburg.

Bochum – Statistics & current form

Once again, VfL Bochum got off to a very poor start. The blue-and-whites only managed to get one out of a possible 15 points from the first five league games and are thus the only Bundesliga team, along with Holstein Kiel, to have remained completely winless on the first five matchdays of the 2024/25 season.

However, this does not necessarily mean anything yet. The 2022-23 season already saw the Ruhr area side start with no points from the first five games, but as we know, they still managed to avoid relegation.

But going into the rest of the season with such a high deficit doesn’t make the mission of staying in the league any easier. It would therefore be important for VfL to turn things around quickly. After all, they have only lost one of their last five Bundesliga home games against Wolves (two wins, two draws).

Bochum concede too many goals

The fact that the team from the city of Grönemeyer simply can’t get their defensive stability in order is much more problematic. For 21 Bundesliga games in a row across the seasons, there has always been at least one goal conceded without exception. It doesn’t help that a total of four goals were scored in the last two games against Kiel (2:2) and Dortmund (2:4).

In any case, the negligent handling of leads is a major problem for the blue and whites. Under new coach Peter Zeidler, the team from the Ruhr area has already squandered eight points in the first five match days. Just like today’s guest from Lower Saxony, by the way…

Wolfsburg – Statistics & current form

VfL Wolfsburg were able to hold the last two league games against champions Leverkusen (3:4) and runners-up Stuttgart (2:2) close in terms of results. In particular, the point gained against the Swabians, when Stuttgart’s Karazor was sent off with yellow-red, although he himself was fouled by Arnold, had to be described as extremely flattering.

Apart from that, however, the green-whites have only scored against the as-yet winless promoted team Holstein Kiel (2-0). As a result, the Lower Saxony team has only four out of a possible 15 points. The only lower totals since the championship season of 2008/09 were in the 2022/23 season (two).

Wolfsburg and the fear of dead balls

Nevertheless, the odds are now tipping in favor of Wolfsburg against Bochum. Under Ralph Hasenhüttl, the Wolves have won three of their last six Bundesliga away games (three defeats) – as many victories as in their 17 previous Bundesliga away games combined.

However, the Lower Saxony team also urgently needs to improve defensively – especially when it comes to defending set pieces. No other Bundesliga team has conceded as many goals from set pieces as VfL Wolfsburg (seven already) in the young 2024/25 season.

A clean sheet in the Ruhr area is not particularly likely against this background, that a goal against can always come out of nowhere, especially since the green-whites – as already mentioned – also have a hard time managing leads, let alone bringing them over time. No other Bundesliga club has conceded more points after taking the lead since the start of the 2023/24 season than Wolfsburg (34).

Bochum – Wolfsburg Direct comparison / H2H record

Head to head: 15 – 4 – 14

A total of 33 meetings have taken place between the two teams so far and Bochum is just ahead with 15 wins (four draws, 14 defeats). Most recently, however, the duel was largely in the hands of Wolfsburg, who have won six of the last ten Bundesliga games against the blue-and-whites (two draws, two defeats). However, one of the two defeats goes back to the last game at the Ruhr Stadium (1-3).

Bochum – Wolfsburg betting tip

As far as the betting odds are concerned, Bochum are favored against Wolfsburg. In fact, however, the Lower Saxony team has only won one of its last five Bundesliga away games at the Ruhr Stadium (two draws, two defeats). The Wolves, who are so vulnerable in set-pieces, are also out of form and, with at least two goals against, have only picked up one out of a possible nine points from their last three league games.

However, we are expecting the Wolves to score at least one away goal. After all, Bochum have not kept a clean sheet in any of their last 21 Bundesliga games. Therefore, the forecast for goals on both sides is very coherent for Bochum against Wolfsburg. Betway offers odds of 1.55 for both teams to score, which we will take with four out of ten units.