Sandhausen vs Borussia Monchengladbach Predictions

Sandhausen host Europa League participants Borussia Monchengladbach in the DFB Pokal first round on Friday, and after their slow start to the season in the German second tier, an upset doesn’t really look on the cards. Sandhausen have taken just one point from their opening two games (D1 L1) and are not in the best shape in terms of injuries either. All in all, the home advantage and the fact that they’ve already played competitive football this season is about as far as their positives go.

Borussia Monchengladbach, meanwhile, have changed hands since their 5th placed finish last season. Former-Red Bull Salzburg coach Marco Rose, who TSG Hoffenheim were also interested in, has taken over from Dieter Hecking. As a former-Bundesliga player, he knows what German football is all about, and he’s already said that he will model his Gladbach side around the same offensive style of play he implemented in Austria. Their last pre-season friendly, a 2-2 draw against Chelsea, is a testament to that.

Rose will have taken some positives from that game and after Sandhausen’s slow start to the 19/20 campaign, it’s reasonable to expect them to be the ones to go through. Gladbach’s cup run was cut short in the 2018/19 variation of the DFB Pokal after they drew a tricky fixture at home to Bayer Leverkusen in the second round, but their last first-round outing saw them hammer fifth-tier side BSC Hastedt 11-1. The year before that they beat fourth-tier outfit Rot-Weiss Essen 2-1 at the same stage.

Going into this game under the attacking mindset of their new boss, it wouldn’t surprise us if we saw something similar. Gladbach have shown in pre-season that they’ve got plenty of goals in them, averaging over three goals per game, but that has often come at the expense of their defence. On top of that, Gladbach have failed to keep a clean sheet in three of their last four DFB Pokal away matches, all of which they won. As such, a bet on ‘Borussia Monchengladbach win and Both Teams to Score’ looks decent value.