Hannover 96 vs Werder Bremen Predictions

Hannover ended 2018 in miserable fashion as they were beaten 1-0 on their own turf by resurgent promotees Fortuna Dusseldorf. Andre Breitenreiter called his side back from the Christmas holidays early for training – a week earlier than any other Bundesliga side, in fact – as they seek to improve their position four points adrift of safety going into the new year. This could be a tough ask, though. Star striker Niclas Fullkurg will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, so the pressure is on forwards Wood and Weydandt to get the goals – the pair have only scored three each so far. Loan signing Nicolai Muller is a bonus – he scored in Hannover’s 4-1 friendly win over Heracles.

Werder Bremen didn’t finish the year too well either, winless in three (D1 L2), but they are in much better shape in the grand scheme of things than the hosts and go into this with way more positives than negatives. While Yuya Osako is away on Asian Cup duty with Japan, 18-year old Josh Sargent, striker of the United States team, is expected to be given more minutes. He scored within moments of coming off the bench to make his Bundesliga debut against Fortuna Dusseldorf and followed that up by drawing Bremen level with a super-sub goal against Leipzig. Bremen did go on to lose the latter but it showed the potential was there.

Seeing these contrasting energies, the value for us looks to be in the visitors to come away from the HDI Arena with a win. As mentioned before, Hannover are having it really tough at the minute and defeats ‘to nil’ in each of their last three in front of the home fans will only add pressure on them. Meanwhile, while Bremen’s form does look off-putting, you need only look at their recent opponents to see why – they’ve faced Bayern, Dortmund, Hoffenheim and Leipzig in their last five. That’s why we’re recommending backing Werder Bremen ‘Draw No Bet’ – that is, if Bremen win, the bet wins, but if Bremen draw, then your bet is refunded (or the leg is void if in an accumulator).

Such a bet is made even better by the fact that Hannover have won just two matches all season – their 11 point total is their worst-ever return after 17 Bundesliga games, in fact. And unlike in past seasons where they’ve been a tough team to beat on their own turf, Hannover actually hold the single worst home record in the division. However, with both teams scoring in 88% of Bremen’s matches, we don’t feel it wouldn’t be unreasonable to see them bag a goal. What we can say though is that we do expect Bremen to get more than one. They’re the only side to have scored in every league game so far and Hannover’s defense is averaging just over two goals conceded per game. Our prediction: 2-1 Werder Bremen.