Hannover 96 vs Hertha Berlin Predictions

Hannover were behind almost as quickly as they got ahead last weekend. Bobby Wood’s goal within 30 seconds of kick-off was one of the fastest goals of the season, but just six minutes later Gladbach drew level, which got the ball rolling towards the North Germans’ eventual 4-1 defeat – not the ideal way to come back after the international break. A much needed 2-1 win just before the two-week hiatus – their first league win since early October – has kept them from sinking entirely, but Hannover do remain just one point inside the drop zone. Things could be worse given the number of injuries coach Breitenreiter has been dealing with over the season (see team news) and star forward Niclas Fullkrug’s timely return therefrom – he was the third highest scoring player in the Bundesliga last season (14 goals) – has given them a timely boost.

Hertha Berlin’s stellar start to the season feels like a distant memory. Pal Dardai’s side did put a plug on a streak of poor form when they made a late comeback from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 away to Hoffenheim last weekend, but things are simply just not going as well overall. Since coming back from the international break, Hertha have also had a number of injuries to work around, including the absence of the majority of their first-choice defence. Three of those players still remain sidelined (see team news) and one returns from suspension this weekend. Hertha will, therefore, have to continue utilising players like young Dutch defender Derrick Luckassen, who would be making just his third Bundesliga start this weekend. And we’ve seen how that panned out for them…

So where does that leave us ahead of this game? Well, after looking over everything, we like a bet in the goals market and we see this being high scoring, ie, over 2.5 goals, for the following reasons: Hertha Berlin’s poor form in recent weeks might hinder their chances of getting a result, but the way Hannover’s recent matches have played out, you have to expect them to have a huge chance of at least getting on the score-sheet. Hannover’s football is interesting, in that their offense is actually quite consistent in finding the back of the net – the North Germans have only failed to score in 20% of their matches this season, even scoring against the better defenses in the league like RB Leipzig (3-2 defeat), Gladbach (4-1 defeat) and Frankfurt (4-1 defeat) – but as their records show, they just can’t seem to stop conceding.

Over 2.5 goals have been scored in a massive 80% of Hannover’s matches this season, so with Hertha scoring at least one in five of their six matches away from home, things continue to point towards goals. And when digging deeper into the stats, it’s easy to see why there could be plenty more than one each. Only Augsburg have seen more shots on target against them than Hannover, and only four teams have conceded more shots on target than Hertha – expect both teams to  have ample opportunity in front of goal on Saturday. And given both are in reasonable scoring form, these teams should fulfil that potential. Hannover’s good track record and Hertha’s poor overall form – winless in six Bundesliga matches (D2 L4) – does, however, make us feel this could end deadlocked. Our prediction: a 2-2 draw.