Cologne vs Dynamo Dresden Predictions

Relegation from the Bundesliga can often see clubs resigned to losing their best players, but that hasn’t wholly been the case at Cologne. German international Jonas Hector and goalkeeping talent Timo Horn spurned advances from some of Europe’s more prestigious teams over the summer and committed their future to the Billy Goats for one season at least. And after a blistering start you would have thought that it wouldn’t be too long until we saw them back in the German top flight, but a cold patch of form has seen them fall from the top spot, standing now three points behind league leaders Hamburg. Markus Anfang needs his side to respond with a strong performance on Saturday.

Dynamo Dresden’s season has been almost the reverse of the hosts. A slow start, losing in three of their first five Bundesliga 2 outings (W2 L3), saw them lingering in the bottom half – where they were for most of last season – but now the East Germans are unbeaten in four and climbing up the ranks. Dresden look to have tightened up defensively as the season has gone on – the East Germans conceded the 5th most goals in the division last term – and goals are back on the table with Senegalese forward Moussa Kone being in top form – he’s scored six goals across his last seven league outings. It’s almost perfect timing for them to make that tricky trip to Cologne.

So what are we expecting from this Bundesliga 2 match? Well, there are a couple of key factors that make us feel that the visitors have to represent the value here. Cologne’s boss, former-Holstein Kiel manager Markus Anfang, has a very attacking philosophy, but his entertaining brand of football hasn’t been producing the ideal results as of late and the side seems to have no ‘Plan B’. Cologne have not won any of their last four league matches (D2 L2), two of which were against sides in the bottom half of the table, and what’s worse is that the West Germans have failed to score more than one goal in any. Meanwhile, Dresden are unbeaten in four, which includes taking a draw away from fourth-placed Union Berlin last time out on the road.

And what about a correct score prediction? So Dynamo Dresden have kept clean sheets in three of their last four on the road, and they’ve even got the third-best defensive record in the division, but it’s hard to imagine Cologne not getting a goal on their own turf, especially as they’ve scored in 100% of their home matches so far. Cologne’s Simon Terodde is the one to keep an eye on in that regard, having bagged 13 goals in 11 league outings so far this season, but with Cologne themselves failing to keep a clean sheet in 100% of their home matches too, expecting Dresden to meet them on the scoreboard isn’t much of an ask. And ultimately, with Dresden proving the tough side to break down, we fancy the East Germans to match them stride for stride on Saturday. Our prediction: a 1-1 draw.