On Friday, Hoffenheim will go to Werder Bremen to compete in the Bundesliga. If the guests are successful, they will be able to move ahead of their hosts in the standings. The home team, meanwhile, is looking to get back on track after playing to a draw in both of their last two meetings.
Match Preview: Hoffenheim vs Werder Bremen
The Hoffenheim team under Andre Breitenreiter seems to have improved, despite being held to draws in their past two games against Freiburg and Hertha Berlin.
The former Germany Under-21s international has made Die Kraichgauer a much more robust side, as they have only surrendered eight goals in eight league games. He led FC Zurich to their first Swiss Super League championship in 13 years before joining Hoffenheim in the summer.
Despite taking the lead thanks to Andrej Kramaric’s third goal of the season last weekend in a 2-2 draw away to Hertha Berlin, they were unable to hang on to it as Dodi Lukebakio equalized just before half-time.
If his team is up against Werder Bremen on Friday night at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Breitenreiter will want to see greater calmness in possession since the visitors have a habit of scoring late goals.
However, Werder took care of business early, scoring three goals in the opening thirteen minutes to take them to a fantastic 5-1 win against Borussia Monchengladbach at Weserstadion.
Mitchell Weiser calmed the crowd after Marcus Thuram scored a consolation goal for the visitors, then Niclas Fullkrug scored twice in between goals from his striking partner Marvin Ducksch.
Ramy Bensebaini scored an own goal just before halftime. With seven goals in eight league games this season, Fullkrug continues to improve after his persistent injury problems were a big part in Werder’s first relegation in 41 years two seasons ago.
With 12 points from eight matches already, they have absolutely nothing to fear after exceeding all expectations thus far after their promotion, but head coach Ole Werner will need his explosive attack partnership to be at their best once again if they are to overcome Hoffenheim on Friday.
Team News: Hoffenheim vs Werder Bremen
Ihlas Bebou, Ermin Bicakcic, and Benjamin Hubner, who serves as the club captain, are all anticipated to be unable to play for Hoffenheim owing to injuries.
Therefore, Breitenreiter’s only real selection difficulty is deciding whether to pair Kramaric with Georginio Rutter or Munas Dabbur, with the latter likely emerging victorious in that specific competition.
Werder, on the other hand, would most likely be missing Dikeni Salifou and Jean Manuel Mbom on their trip since the two players are still working to recuperate from injuries to their groin and Achilles, respectively.
Niklas Stark will be replaced by Amos Pieper when he returns to Werner’s back three after serving a suspension for missing last weekend’s thrashing of Gladbach. Leonardo Bittencourt, who was only used as a substitute in the previous match, could start in midfield after being used only as a substitute in the previous match.
- Hoffenheim Possible Starting Lineup: Baumann, Kabak, Vogt, Nsoki, Kaderabek, Promel, Geiger, Angelino, Baumgartner, Dabbur, Kramaric.
- Werder Bremen Possible Starting Lineup: Pavlenka, Pieper, Veljkovic, Friedl, Weiser, Schmid, Gross, Bittencourt, Jung, Fullkrug, Ducksch.
Our Prediction: Hoffenheim 1-1 Werder Bremen
Werder has survived longer than the majority of people would have anticipated at this point in the season. Only Bayern Munich has scored more goals than Werder throughout the whole league thus far. As a result, it has the potential to be an exciting event, and Hoffenheim may wind up with a third consecutive share of the spoils if they do well enough.
