Hamburger SV vs Werder Bremen Betting Tips and Predictions

Friday night football entertainment doesn’t get much better than this, Hamburg may have the bragging rights of a higher league position than their North-German rivals, standing in 12th position, but they are just three points above Werder Bremen, who currently occupy the relegation play-off position in 16th place, and come into this match with only one win in their last five Bundesliga matches (W1 L4) after a 3-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund last Sunday. Hamburger SV are the only team to be ever-present in the Bundesliga since its foundation and have narrowly avoided relegation in the past two seasons, finishing 16th both times and barely surviving the relegation play-offs, so the pressure is on Hamburg not to allow themselves to fall into the end of season relegation fight for a third consecutive campaign.

Werder Bremen, meanwhile, make the short journey to Hamburg for this derby and relegation “six pointer” knowing that a win would lift them out of the relegation zone and level on points with Hamburg, a very appealing prospect. Viktor Skripnik’s team bounced back from their agonising defeat to fellow stugglers FC Augsburg, in the fixture before last, with an impressive 3-2 win over Wolfsburg last Saturday. Veteran striker Claudio Pizarro became Bremen’s outright record goalscorer in that win at the Weser Stadium and will be looking to continue his form and set his record higher against their rivals.

Werder Bremen’s 3-2 win against Wolfsburg last Saturday was crucial and a real boost to morale in the relegation fight, before this Bremen were four matches without a win and five points from safety. Despite being knocked out in the semi-final of the DFB Cup on Tuesday away to Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen put on a solid performance and were somewhat “unlucky” with a disallowed equaliser and bad sportsmanship by Arturo Vidal. Contrastingly, Hamburg have had a “demoralising” few weeks. They were unable to get anything going against Borussia Dortmund last Sunday, despite Dortmund resting many key player ahead of their DFB Cup semi-final, and have found their cushion above the relegation zone cut to just three points in recent weeks.

Hamburg are in poor home form, losing as many home games so far this season as the whole of last season (W4 D4 L7), five of which were against teams below them in the table. Werder Bremen are in solid current scoring form, scoring two goals in each of their last three matches, but are yet to keep a clean sheet in the Bundesliga this season. Combining Hamburg’s poor current form with the above analysis and the below statistics, we expect draw or Werder Bremen and both teams to score to be a likely outcome. Werder Bremen to win 2-1 at 9/1 also seems like top value.

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