Gladbach vs Hamburger

Friday night action in German Bundesliga expects us and it will begin with a game between two teams in a rise of form: Gladbach and Hamburg.

 

Borussia Monchengladbach are second in the standings, three points behind Dortmund, but a point ahead of Bayern Munich. Their defensive has been the strongest point for a year or so, but lately they have increased their offensive potency, being the 5th biggest scoring team to add up to the best defensive team of the league record. Gladbach are 5-1-0 in their last six games, with wins against Bayern and Schalke at home, while the only draw came against revitalized Wolfsburg. Against Schalke they were magnificent, winning 3-0 and it could have been more, while the 2-1 win at Kaiserslautern also seemed easy. Coach Lucien Favre will have to do without important Patrick Herrmann, but Gladbach will have Marx, Stranzl and Hanke in the starting line-up. Reus has been constantly good this year so far and he will once again be a great danger up front.

 

Hamburger started the season horribly, but they are now much better under Thorsten Fink. They have escaped the relegation zone, standing now on 11th place, eight points above the danger line. The fact that they have seven games in a row while playing away without a defeat does not worry me. Except for Leverkusen and Hannover, all the other teams were bottom teams, while the really hard games of this year were lost badly at home against Dortmund 1-5 and against Werder 1-3. We have to recognize that Hamburg had more chances than Werder, but against the top table teams you need more than that. Gladbach will be defending very well as usual, so Hamburg will have to be very careful and play organized. I doubt that they will be able to resist in-form Gladbach though. For Hamburg, Gokhan will be absent, while Jarolim is a doubt due to fitness. This means Hamburg will be defending with Kacar and Rincon, which is not a very good plan against the likes of Reus and Co.

 

Monchengladbach won at Hambrug 1-0 early in the season, but back then the current visitors were struggling. Two teams on a positive trend here, but Gladbach have home ground advantage so i they will create more chances probably and even score more in my opinion. Hamburg’s series of positive results in travels is about to come to an end and even if the odds are not great, the better team should prevail here and preserve their title chances.

 

Bet: Monchengladbach -0.5 Asian Handicap @1.83 with Pinnacle Sports