Werder Bremen vs Augsburg Predictions, Betting Tips, & Match Preview

Werder Bremen couldn’t have had a more difficult Bundesliga opening match than away to Bayern Munich. Bremen’s poor start to the competitive season in the DFB Pokal, where they suffered an embarrassing knock-out, losing 2-1 to 3. Liga side Sportfreunde Lotte in the first round, was only made worse when the visited the Allianz Arena two weeks ago. The defending champions wiped the floor with Bremen, with Robert Lewandowski taking away a hat trick in a 6-0 win. Bremen struggled going forwards without their two core strikers: veteran striker Claudio Pizarro (14 goals over 28 appearances last season) was forced to sit out with a muscle injury and newly signed forward Max Kruse from Wolfsburg is also out for the foreseeable future.

After four successful seasons under coach Makus Weinzierl, Augsburg turned a new page this summer, with new coach Dirk Schuster arriving from Darmstadt 98 to replace the Schalke 04-bound tactician. Under Weinzierl’s leadership Augsburg succeeded in establishing themselves as a top flight side and participated in a memorable maiden UEFA Europa League campaign. Coach Schuster’s next step will no doubt be to try and and push Augsburg up to top-ten material after their 12th placed finish last season. Augsburg have made a few decent signings before the closure of the transfer window, which will no doubt boost their confidence after their 2-0 opening defeat at home to Wolfsburg: Icelandic striker Alfred Finnbogason, who scored seven goals in fourteen appearances for Augsburg last season, has had his loan move made permanent.

Both sides lost and failed to score in their opening Bundesliga match, but it’s fair to say that Augsburg’s defeat was far more unjust than Bremen’s. Augsburg were unlucky  not to take anything away against Wolfsburg, recording more of shots on goal and on target than the visitors, and, unlike Bremen, Augsburg also progressed onto the second round of the DFB Pokal with a convincing 2-0 win against Ravensburg (German fourth tier). Though this match doesn’t sound too exciting on paper, this fixture has potential to be one of the most entertaining games of the weekend. Both teams have scored in eight of the ten meetings between Bremen and Augsburg (31 goals in total – an average of three per game) and both sides are in top home and away form respectively. Bremen have won their last three Bundesliga matches at home and Augsburg have taken seven points from their last three on the road. Bremen remain doubtful over the fitness of their forwards heading into this match which, combined with the stronger performances so far this campaign, leads us to favour and find value in the visitors here.

As such, draw or Augsburg at 7/10 and Augsburg to win 2-1 at 10/1 are our choice bets for this match.