Hamburg vs Ingolstadt Predictions, Betting Tips, & Match Preview

Hamburg and FC Ingolstadt were separated by just one point as the 2015/2016 Bundesliga season came to a close. While Ingolstadt may have been more than happy with their 11th-place finish for their first season in the top flight, Bundesliga veterans Hamburg, who edged above them in 10th, will be keen to do even better this term after a rough few years. Hamburg’s ambition for improvement is reflected in their summer transfer activity. Highly-rated Alen Halilovic, who was loaned out to Spanish side Sporting Gijon last season, joins HSV from Barcelona, Serbian left winger Filip Kostic joins them from Stuttgart (8 goals in 59 appearances), and United States national team striker Bobby Wood joins from Union Berlin (17 goals in 31 appearances).

Ingolstadt’s main change this summer was that of coach Ralph Hasenhüttl, who has since departed for the managerial position at RB Leipzig, with former Karlsruher SC boss Markus Kauczinski taking over the ropes. Kauczinksi has vowed that he will not be changing much about the side heading into this season, with Hasenhüttl’s successful formula from last season being a core component to their main aim: to stay up. Ingolstadt are, however, without three key members of the back four that helped Ingolstadt end last season with the Bundesliga’s joint best defensive record outside of the top three: Benjamin Hübner, Danny da Costa and Ramazan Özcan have all parted ways with the club.

There is a stark contrast between Hamburg’s overall squad improvement and Ingolstadt’s attempt to salvage and hold onto what remains of their 2015/2016 Bundesliga squad through the transfer window. Ingolstadt’s rise to prominence in the Bundesliga stemmed from their defensive prowess as opposed to scoring a high numbers of goals. Seeing as their back four is completely changed heading into this season we find the hosts a really decent price at 11/10 to win within 90 minutes. Not to mention that not only have the South Germans not won away from home since last September (D7 L10), but they also finished their 2015/2016 season off with four defeats from their last four away matches. Little has changed going forward for Ingolstadt, however, and they may be able to take away a consolation goal considering they have only failed to score in one of their last six away matches.

As such, we like Hamburg to win at 11/10. Hamburg have averaged 2.25 goals against Ingolstadt over all previous meetings so we feel Hamburg to win 2-1 at 8/1 with bet365 is also a decent correct score bet for this Bundesliga match.