Hertha Berlin v Bayer Leverkusen

A single point separates these two teams heading into round six. Perhaps surprising considering Bayer Leverkusen qualified for Champions League football whilst Hertha Berlin avoided relegation into the 2. Bundesliga by winning their playoff against Hamburg last season. With 24 goals in 27 Bundesliga games last season, Patrik Schick finally got off the mark for the season last weekend against Freiburg, but his equalising goal was in vain after Ritsu Doan scored a winner 18 minutes from time.

Introduced on the hour mark last weekend, it took Callum Hudson-Odoi just five minutes to assist his first Bundesliga goal. The Englishman impressed in his cameo and was awarded with a start in B04’s Champions League defeat to Club Brugge on Tuesday. Coming off the left-flank, Hudson-Odoi already looks sharp, cutting inside and clipping the ball into the 6-yard box, where he’ll look for Schick. Going forward, Gerardo Seoane’s Bayer Leverkusen have impressed, creating 15 chances and converting five of them. B04 tend to favour the flanks and against Hertha Berlin on Saturday, expect Moussa Diaby and Hudson-Odoi to get at Hertha’s defence.

Bayer Leverkusen have the much stronger squad, but they will be wary of Hertha Berlin, who won their first game of the season last weekend at Augsburg. A relatively drab affair, Dodi Lukebakio and Marco Richter converted two of their 10 chances created. Like Bayer, Hertha tend to favour the flanks with full-backs Marvin Plattenhardt and Jonjoe Kenny progressing the ball, making five key passes between themselves.

There tends to be goals when Bayer Leverkusen (six scored, nine conceded) are involved. Goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky has rightfully been criticised this season, the Finn was at fault for Club Brugge’s only goal on Wednesday night, which proved to be the winner. With a quartet of Adam Hlozek, Hudson-Odoi, Diaby and Schick in attack, expect B04 to create. Chances are always there for Schick and now that he’s off the mark for the season, I’d expect him to find his confidence. This is a match I expect Bayer Leverkusen to win.

---

RB Leipzig v Borussia Dortmund

After RB Leipzig’s 4-1 defeat against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday night, CEO Oliver Mintzlaff and Co. held a crisis meeting. It was decided that they would part ways with Domenico Tedesco. On Thursday morning, it was announced that Marco Rose would take charge. Born in Leipzig, Rose knows Red Bull given his time at RB Salzburg. He impressed which resulted in a move to Borussia Mönchengladbach before coaching Borussia Dortmund last season. On Saturday afternoon, he coaches Leipzig against his former club.

Despite an array of talent from Christopher Nkunku and Andre Silva to Dani Olmo and Timo Werner, RB Leipzig have been largely uninspiring this season. They conceded four against Eintracht Frankfurt in their last Bundesliga game and failed to convert any of their five chances. Tedesco operated in a 3-4-3 in his last two Bundesliga games prior to his dismissal and with the short turnaround, it’s likely that Rose will operate something similar. David Raum and Benjamin Henrichs playing wing-back can cause Borussia Dortmund’s Raphael Guerreiro and Thomas Meunier problems if caught of position. There’s always a potential of goals when Werner and Nkunku are involved. Given that they prefer to drop deep rather than play on the shoulder, this would arguably be the biggest test so far for Nico Schlotterbeck & Co. It’ll be Rose’s job to get his attack firing.

As for Borussia Dortmund, credit must be given to them. Three of their five Bundesliga games so far have resulted in a 1-0 win. Whilst this doesn’t look good, it’s the shift in mentality under Edin Terzic must be commended. These are the types of games that BVB would have lost last season, now they give it their all. They come into this game following a comfortable 3-0 win against Copenhagen on Tuesday night, Jude Bellingham, Marco Reus & Co. playing some beautiful one-touch football in the final third.

Borussia Dortmund will be without Jamie Bynoe-Gittens but with three assists in all competitions already this season, Julian Brandt has stepped up and has improved significantly in comparison to last season. BVB created 25 chances with a combined xG of 4.7 in their last two Bundesliga games but have scored just two. It’s also worth noting that BVB will be without No. 1 ‘keeper, Gregor Kobel. We’ll see chances created at both ends, but both teams must be more clinical than they currently are. I do think that we’ll see both Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig score this weekend.

---

Schalke v Bochum

Both Schalke and Bochum are winless after five games in the Bundesliga this season. Following a heavy 6-1 defeat against Union Berlin preceding a 1-1 draw at Stuttgart, Schalke sporting director Peter Knäbel publicly backed head coach Frank Kramer ahead of Saturday’s game against Bochum. Promoted as 2. Bundesliga champions, Schalke will be disappointed not to have picked up their first win of the season so far but have an excellent opportunity to do so against Bochum, who are bottom and pointless.

Operating in a 4-2-3-1, we can again expect Simon Terodde to act as the focal point with one of Dominick Drexler or Rodrigo Zalazar supporting the No. 9, who scored his first Bundesliga goal of the season against Stuttgart last weekend. Of the seven clubs placed 12^th-19^th, only Bayer Leverkusen (6) have scored more than Schalke (5) in five league games this season. Marius Bülter has scored three goals from an xG of 1.88 this season and offers a goal threat from out wide whilst both Florent Mollet and Jordan Larsson have received substantial minutes this season, the latter had three shots in 69 minutes last weekend.

Schalke have created 14 chances in 180 minutes against Union Berlin and Stuttgart in their last two games but have only converted two of them. This is where they need to improve. But against a Bochum side that have conceded 15 goals in five games this season, Schalke won’t have a better opportunity to grab their first win.

Where Kramer has received backing from Schalke, in the opposite dugout Thomas Reis is feeling the heat. After securing Bundesliga football this season and beating both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund last season, Reis is already under pressure. They lost last season’s top goalscorer Sebastian Polter to Schalke, have failed to impress in the transfer market and already look like early favourites for automatic relegation.

Although creating 22 chances in the last three games (against Bayern Munich, Freiburg and Werder Bremen), Bochum failed to convert. They’ve also conceded 34 chances and 10 goals in three games. The departures of Armel Bella-Kotchap and Maxim Leitsch in central-defence is obvious. Manuel Riemann has been excellent in goal, but there’s only so much the ‘keeper can do. I fully expect Schalke and Kramer to go out and grab their first win of the season this weekend.

---

18+ please gamble responsibly.

---

Back the Four and Five Star Selections as a Treble on Betfair ⬇️

*Bet link only appears when accessing from mobile.

---

Haven’t got a Betfair account? You’re in luck…

Sign up to Betfair and get a full refund if your first bet loses. Grab an account through the offer below and place £20 on the 4/1 Bundesliga Best Bets Double. Here are the two possible outcomes: