Football Results

Hoffenheim ended up at the third place in the Bundesliga last year but plays very modestly in the new season, although it started the Champions League with away draw. Manchester City is the reigning champion of Europe and currently occupies the first place in the Premier League but on the other hand it totally unexpectedly lost at home in the first round of the Champions League. The two teams have never met before.

Hoffenheim

Hoffenheim plays variably this season, which is why it is positioned unexpectedly low in the Bundesliga table. It won just twice and drew one match, which together is enough for mere 11th place. Last Saturday Hoffenheim lost the third league match this season and the first at home. Leipzig won by 2-1, where Kramaric scored the only goal for Hoffenheim from penalty in the injury time.

So, they weren’t even close to draw but they at least continued scoring at least by one goal in each match. Their fans hoped for better result after away victory in Hannover last week, however, it seems that large number of matches creates them significant problem. Manager Nagelsmann constantly rotates the starting line-up and he did that after Hannover and will probably do the same now, especially as they have plenty of problems with injuries across the team.

Probable lineups 1899 Hoffenheim: Baumann – Akpoguma, Vogt, Posch – Kaderabek, Grillitsch, N. Schulz – Demirbay, Bittencourt – Joelinton, Kramaric

Manchester City

Manchester City doesn’t have problems like its host and reigning champion of England is still undefeated; where out of seven Premiership rounds it won six times. The only draw came out of blue as they played 1-1 with Wolverhampton away, while all other rivals were mostly easily won by sound goal difference, as they average three scored goals per match. In the League Cup they didn’t allow Oxford to surprise them but they totally unexpectedly had a weak start in the Champions League as they lost to Lyon at home by 2-1.

Manchester City had problems in the Champions League in previous years and in general struggles to play in that competition equally good as in the English championship. Now, they again have problems and that increases pressure on the team ahead of the match. New failure might jeopardise reaching the round of 16, which equals to catastrophe. It was no console that they dominated match with Lyon and created nice number of chances although we should add that manager Guardioloa had made several changes in the team for that match. After losing to Lyon they won three times in a row without receiving a single goal and scoring 10 of their own, including victory over Brighton by routine 2-0 last Saturday. Now, the team will be surely refreshed with several new names.

Probable lineups Manchester City: Ederson – Walker, Stones, Kompany, Mendy – Fernandinho, Gundogan – Mahrez, D. Silva, L. Sane – G. Jesus

Verdict:

Hoffenheim has a fair deal of problems, mostly in defence although it scores with ease. Manchester City is even more efficient and under those circumstances the match should seen plenty of goals.

Pick: over 3.5 goals 2.0 - 100/100 @1XBet