Greuther Furth vs Cologne Predictions

It’s not always been easy, though it looks as though Koln are on their way back to the Bundesliga, and it’s likely that they’ll go up as champions. Monday’s visitors have a five-point advantage at the top of the table. A win on Sunday will almost guarantee that the name of André Pawlak’s side goes on the trophy.

Furth made a surprisingly good start to the season; they went five games unbeaten, which allowed them to occupy a lofty position for several weeks, though as the campaign has progressed, Damir Burić’s men have dropped off the pace, so much so that they’re now only six points ahead of the drop-zone. Fortunately, they’ve only got three games to play, so they’ll probably avoid a scrap for survival.

Even though they have dropped to a fairly unflattering position, Furth have performed respectably at home this season. They’ve only won five times at Sportpark Ronhof, though they’ve made a pleasing habit of avoiding defeat, as they’ve lost just twice in front of a home crowd. Impressively, only two teams have lost less games at home than Furth, who also have the seventh best defensive record on home soil.

Getting the better of a very good Koln side will be tough, but the hosts may be feeling confident after going six games unbeaten at home. The fact that they held Union Berlin, who’re currently 3^rd, to a draw last time out will also give the hosts confidence.

While Furth have performed reasonably well at home this season, Koln have been excellent on the road. Monday’s visitors have accumulated more points than any other 2. Bundesliga team away from home, though they’ve not exactly been infallible in recent times.

Koln will almost certainly go up, while they’ll very likely go up as champions, though it’s not difficult to pick holes in some of their recent efforts, especially on the road. Last time out away from home, Pawlak’s men were battered 3-0 by Dresden, while they conceded four away when drawing away against Duisburg prior to that. Neither of those sides are brilliant, so it’s relatively easy to feel that the visitors are overpriced ahead of this match.

At the end of the day, overall, Koln are a better side than Furth, while they deserve to be favourites, though do they warrant such heavy odds-on favouritism? Quite simply, no. For all they’re a top side at this level, the visitors have been a bit sloppy on the road of late, so backing the hosts, who’ve proven to be tough to beat at home of late, to get something out of the game, at what appears to be a generous price, is the best option.