Reason For Cologne vs Hoffenheim Betting Tips
The clubs currently placed fourth and fifth in the Bundesliga face-off in Round Two of the DFB-Pokal on Wednesday night as Hoffenheim visit Cologne.
The away side are one point ahead of the hosts in the German top flight after eight games and if early season form is anything to go by, this highly anticipated clash should be a tight encounter.
After all, we are only at the last 32 stage so this is a corker of a tie to be thrown up so early. Both teams will be confident of challenging the big boys such as Bayern, Dortmund and Leverkusen in this competition – but one club’s hopes will come to a premature end prior to the last 16 draw.
Therefore, we can expect both managers to go for this and play their strongest sides.
Cologne boast a fine cup record having won the trophy four times in their history and Peter Stoger’s charges will be extra keen to deliver a strong performance after defeat to Hertha Berlin on Saturday, where Bundesliga top scorer Anthony Modeste’s goal proved insufficient to prevent a 2-1 reversal.
Modeste should start again but he may be partnered by Simon Zollar up front instead of Yuya Osako, who was substituted at the weekend, whilst Leonardo Bittencourt could come in for Konstantin Rausch on the left wing.
Hoffenheim had a much better weekend than Cologne as they romped to a 0-3 success away to Bayer Leverkusen, maintaining their unbeaten start to the campaign.
Boss Julian Nagelsmann is likely to start with the same eleven, minus full-back Pavel Kaderabek who serves a one match cup suspension.
The two teams have yet to meet in the league this season but drew both fixtures in the 2015/16 campaign – further indication that there won’t be too much between the sides on Wednesday night.
But at the prices and following their tremendous win at the weekend, we’ll chance an away victory here as Hoffenheim seek to chase the first piece of major silverware in their history.
Head To Head
The sides drew both encounters in the Bundesliga last season.
Cologne vs Hoffenheim Stats
Hoffenheim are unbeaten so far this term and have won their last two away matches against Ingolstadt and Leverkusen.
Cologne Team News
Simon Zollar and Leonardo Bittencourt could replace Yuya Osako and Konstantin Rausch in the starting line-up after coming on from the bench at the weekend.
Hoffenheim Team News
Hoffenheim are likely to remain unchanged from their weekend win in Leverkusen with the exception of full-back Pavel Kaderabek who is banned.
