Hertha Berlin v FC Koln

Few would have expected interim head coach Tayfun Korkut to come into Hertha Berlin and steady the ship at the capital club but that’s exactly what the Turkish manager has done, with two wins and a draw under his belt from his first four games in the German Bundesliga.

As such, the 47-year-old and his side go into their first game of the new year in a buoyant mood and perhaps favourites for their forthcoming tie against FC Koln. Even if they are missing some notable first-team players like Dedryck Boyata, Steven Jovetic and Santiago Ascacibar. 

That’s most likely because Hertha have, somehow, managed to put together a decent run of form at home, in which they’ve picked up three wins and two draws from their last five games in Berlin. Including wins over Borussia Monchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund and Arminia Bielefeld, as well as a draw with Bayer Leverkusen. 

To be fair, Koln go into this match with a relatively clean bill of health and an outstanding goal threat in the form of Anthony Modeste, who currently has 11 goals in 17 league games for Steffen Baumgart’s side this season. 

However, despite their best efforts, the Carneval club have been far from impressive on the road this season and aside from a 3-2 win over Wolfsburg in mid-December, Koln have struggled to pick up any away wins in the league this season. 

Hertha should edge this match but it will undoubtedly be a tight clash that could end up seeing both teams steal a point.

Bochum v Wolfsburg

Despite boasting the top billing of the Sunday evening match, Bochum v Wolfsburg is undoubtedly one for the Bundesliga purists. 

The hosts have certainly performed above expectation thus far in the Bundesliga, sitting comfortably in 12th place after 17 games, but in truth, Thomas Reis’ side can be a tough watch at the best of times. 

That, of course, won’t bother home fans at all if they can continue this season’s trend of scraping important wins at the Ruhrstadion, when Wolfsburg come to visit. Mainz, Eintracht Frankfurt, Hoffenheim and Freiburg have all left the old stadium without a single point this season and there’s a perfectly good chance that Florian Kohfeldt helpless Wolves will do the same. 

That, more than anything else, is down to the fact that the new Wolfsburg manager oversaw an end to 2021 that left his side on a seven-game losing streak and with few signs of the team turning things around. To make matters worse, the travelling side will likely be without young goalscorer Lukas Nmecha and dynamic wing-back Kevin Mbabu for this match too. 

Indeed, Bochum will likely be hoping to claim another important win on Sunday night but the smart money will be on a low-scoring affair between these two sides. There have been under 2.5 goals in five of the last six games at the Ruhr stadium and Wolfsburg certainly won’t be bringing much firepower with them. 

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