Osnabruck vs SV Darmstadt Predictions

It’s been a mixed start to life in 2. Bundesliga for Osnabruck, who were crowned 3. Liga champions at the end of last season. Monday’s hosts come into this game having won one and lost one, though their victory came on match-day two, which means that they’ll likely come into this game feeling upbeat. Darmstadt will also be confident ahead of this clash, as they’ve taken a respectable four points from their opening two games.

As far as results go, Osnabruck have done OK over the first few weeks; three points from two games represents a decent return for a newly promoted side. Monday’s hosts have also looked reasonable from a performance point of view. There have of course been negatives, but there’s also been a couple of positives for manager Daniel Thioune to draw upon.

Going forward, Osnabruck have competed by getting on the score-sheet in each of their first two games, posting respectable expected goals for figures of 1.17 and 1.41. They’ve not done the best job of preventing their opponents from creating, as they’ve shipped figures of 1.75 and 1.46, but such figures aren’t terrible since they’ve just stepped up a level, while an early average expected goal difference of -0.32 doesn’t exactly suggest that Osnabruck have been majorly overrun during the opening weeks.

Darmstadt avoided defeat on the opening day, though they were somewhat fortunate to do so, or at least that’s what the underlying figures suggest, as they created only 0.99 expected goals for and conceded 2.45. The again, the way in which they resisted for long periods against a strong Hamburg side was pleasing.

Match-day two saw Darmstadt deliver a solid performance, beating Holstein Kiel by two goals to nil. On that occasion, Michael Stegmayer’s men did a very good job of stopping their opponents from building up a head of steam, as they surrendered 0.88 expected goals for, while they also did a decent job of creating more than they gave away, emerging with an expected goal difference of +0.53.

In the betting, ‘Over 2.5 Goals & Both Teams to Score’ stands out. Darmstadt have delivered two rather contrasting performances, but Osnabruck’s two efforts have been very similar. In both of their first two matches, they’ve offered a threat going forward, but they’ve also given quite a bit away, as an average of 1.61 expected goals against suggests. Both teams posted 1.41 expected goals for last time out, which points towards the chances of a relatively high-scoring game unfolding at Stadion an der Bremer Brücke, a ground that saw four goals go in on match-day one, being fractionally greater than the current prices suggest.

Those interested in having a few pennies on the score-line can try the 2-2 draw, at what looks to be a good price. Osnabruck have shown more than enough going forward to suggest that they can hurt the visitors, though they’ve given quite a bit away too. A repeat of their latest effort should see goals at both ends.