Bochum vs Bayer Leverkusen prediction: GERMANY: Bundesliga betting tips on match 2024-11-08 14:30.
[p]Bochum are Bundesliga history makers, but for all the wrong reasons as their measly one-point haul after nine rounds is the joint-worst return in Bundesliga history. It’s the outright worst when considering their dreadful goal difference of -20, half of which has come from a pair of defeats by a five-goal margin in their last two matches. Rather unsurprisingly, no team has survived relegation after such a dismal start, but that’s the miracle Dieter Hecking is tasked with turning into reality after his appointment as manager this week.[/p]
[p]The last thing he’d want to see is defending champions Bayer Leverkusen come to town, though he can take heart from the fact that two of Bochum’s three home league wins in 2024 came against the two sides that finished directly below Leverkusen last season! And yet more positivity can be found from H2H history, as despite winning just one of the last ten meetings (D3, L6), the Blues have only beaten two current Bundesliga sides more than Leverkusen (17).[/p]
[p]Leverkusen arrive at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion a wounded beast after being thrashed 4-0 by Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League in midweek. It was far from a happy return to Anfield for Xabi Alonso then, but despite suffering the joint-heaviest defeat of his tenure, the Spaniard insisted the “result is harder to take than the performance” after his side shut the Reds out until the hour-mark.[/p]
[p]Combine that with their poor Bundesliga start however, and alarm bells may well be ringing. Die Werkself are nine points worse off than at this stage last season, while they’ve won just once in their last five league matches (D4). The road is usually where they excel on the domestic front having avoided defeat in their last 21 away league matches (W16, D5) – the third-longest such run in competition history – but Leverkusen’s last such defeat came on this ground in May 2023 (3-0)![/p]
[p]Players to watch: Bochum’s Dani de Wit is their joint-top scorer with two goals, with both coming in games where the Blues scored twice and went on to lose. Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick could get another chance to impress here – he scored four of his side’s nine goals across a pair of dominant H2H wins last season.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Bochum manager Dieter Hecking has won a joint-career high 12 H2Hs against Leverkusen (D3, L12).[/p]
[p][i]Written by Ryan Fisher[/i][/p]