Borussia Monchengladbach vs Hannover 96 Predictions

Borussia Monchengladbach are one of two “Borussias” taking the Bundesliga by storm. A 3-1 win in Bremen just before the international break saw them extend their best start to a Bundesliga campaign for 31 years and was the perfect way for them to solidify their return to form after consecutive defeats to Freiburg (a 3-1 defeat in the Bundesliga) and Bayer Leverkusen (a 5-0 defeat in the DFB Pokal) in the weeks before that. Key to their success has been their perfect home record this season. Gladbach have taken five wins from five at Borussia-Park and could aim to go for a sixth with Brazilian forward Raffael starting after a spell sidelined, though he’d be hard-pressed to break up the in-form front line of Thorgan Hazard, Alassane Plea, and Lars Stindl.

Hannover will be a bit perplexed heading into this one. A 2-1 win at home to Wolfsburg just before the international break was a much needed three points – their first league win since early October following three competitive defeats – but yet that wasn’t enough to see them move out of the drop zone and it also couldn’t have come at a worse time in terms of their momentum. The North Germans can at least expect a timely boost in the potential return of star forward Niclas Fullkrug from injury this weekend – he was the third highest scoring player in the Bundesliga last season (14 goals). Alongside USMNT forward Bobby Wood, who featured against England last Friday, Hannover should continue to prove a threat in front of goal.

So where does that leave us ahead of this game? Well, it’s hard not to think that Gladbach should keep their run going on Sunday. Hannover are one of the weaker sides overall in the Bundesliga – not much has changed in that respect since last season – and they’re a typically home strong side. Hannover’s recent away results are simply too poor to expect them to cause an upset here – they’re on an 18-game wait for a Bundesliga away win (D6 L12), losing to sides as weak as promoted Nurnberg on the road already this season. And it seems to be in their defence where things fall apart a bit. The North Germans have conceded two goals or more in five of their six away matches so far this term, and that’s a stat that’s hard to ignore against a Borussia Monchengladbach side that has scored three goals or more in 5 of their last 7 Bundesliga outings.

It’s hard to criticise Gladbach much at all at the moment really, and a few key names deserve a mention: forward Alassane Plea has cemented himself as one of the signings of the summer (8 goals in 11 appearances), with his hat-trick last time out pushing him up to joint second top scorer in the Bundesliga, while midfielders Jonas Hofmann and Thorgan Hazard have also come into their own this season – all of Gladbach’s eight Bundesliga goals before the last match came from the pair (four each). However, if you had to criticise one aspect of this Gladbach side, it would be in their defence. Goalkeeper Yann Sommer has been forced to make the 4th most saves of all goalkeepers in the Bundesliga and so it’d be reasonable to expect Hannover to have a good chance of getting on the scoresheet too, especially as they’ve failed to score in just one of their six away matches so far (D2 L4). Expect this to be a thriller. Our prediction: 3-1 Borussia Monchengladbach.