Bundesliga: Red Bulls Hunting for TSG Rivals

RB Leipzig s TSG Hoffenheim

The battle for the top four Bundesliga places rages on this weekend with the pick of the action coming in Leipzig, where fourth placed Red Bull welcome TSG Hoffenheim, who currently sit in sixth place and four points behind their hosts.  

But while the gap is relatively small the form of the two teams is in much greater contrast as Red Bull have been on a spectacular run of form while Hoffenheim have struggled of late. Leipzig come into the game on the back of a thumping 4-1 win away to Borussia Dortmund in the league, and a 1-1 draw against Atalanta in the Europa League; while Hoffenheim had a setback last week, losing 2-1 at home to Bochum, and that made it back to back defeats for Sebastien Hoeness’s Champions League hopefuls.

Hoffenheim’s loss of form has allowed Red Bull to overtake them and a defeat last week for fifth placed Freiburg opened the door for the Bulls to charge through, and now they’ll be pretty hard to shift from that coveted top four place.   

Talking Points

Leipzig the best team in Germany in 2022

Domenico Tedesco has led Leipzig into the top four, clear by three points, for the first time in the season, and the reason why? No team in the league has better Bundesliga 2022 results than Die Roten Bullen, they have collected the most points since the turn of the year with eight wins from 11 league fixtures.      

Red Bull gave second placed BVB’s title ambitions a serious blow last week as well as underlining their own vast improvement. Konrad Laimer, with two goals and an assist, and Christopher Nkunku, with one goal and two assists, simply ripped the BVB defence apart. Emre Can was given a particularly torrid time by Nkunku’s pace and trickery, as Leipzig counter attacked with devastating effect. While Dortmund took 64 per cent of possession they did very little with the ball as Leipzig registered five shots on target to BVB’s two while the prolific Erling Braut Haaland toiled.  

Nkunku, top scorer with 16 goals and 11 assists and ten goal Andre Silva were both substituted in the Europa tie against Atalanta, along with midfield creator Dani Olmo, with this huge clash in mind. All three will feature, alongside Laimer, and that’s an exciting prospect for Red Bull fans in the run up to this big game.

At the start of the campaign the Bundesliga 2022 betting odds backed Leipzig to finish in the top three places, and that looked a long way away when Tedesco took over from Jesse Marsch in November with the club in the bottom half.

A win on Sunday could see Tedesco’s team jump to third place and that is some turnaround.  

Hoffenheim’s defence is leaking

Leipzig’s attack made short work of BVB’s defence and they will be licking their lips at the thought of facing Hoffenheim’s back four, who have conceded five goals in two defeats, to bottom half club Bochum and relegation threatened Hertha Berlin. The fact that Bochum had 20 shots against his team will be a concern for Hoeness. His defence was caught out too easily and to concede three goals to 17^th place Hertha was a shocker.

To make matters worse, left back David Raum will be missing against Red Bull after he picked up a yellow card in the defeat to Bochum, as well as scoring TSG’s goal. With nine assists he’s the team’s most productive player and he’ll be a big miss in both defence and attack.      

Hoffenheim recently held FC Bayern to a 1-1 draw recently and if they can take a point from Red Bull that will be just as big an achievement.   

History

Leipzig have had the better of the head to heads, winning six of the 12 encounters with TSG, losing three and drawing three. But Hoffenheim won the return fixture 2-0 as Diadie Samassekou and former Red Bull Salzburg striker Munas Dabbur scored in either half.

Recent form favours the hosts too. Leipzig have four wins and two draws from the last six games, while Hoffenheim have had three wins, two losses and a draw over the same period.

Betting Tip

Leipzig are at 1.51 to win, here at SBOTOP, with the draw at 4.36 and TSG at 5.03; and it is difficult to see beyond a home win. The Bulls were 2-0 up at half time against BVB last week and I expect them to come out of the traps quickly when they face TSG on Sunday.

 

●●●

CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS

Stay updated with everything sports and betting.

Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.