Bundesliga
Bundesliga - the hot phase begins
As always, 10 game days before the end of the day, the following questions arise:
Who is going down? Who has to go into relegation? Who manages to maintain the class? Who can qualify for the Europa League and who qualifies for the Champions League?
This year you can even ask the question, who will be German champion?
At all levels it will be exciting and especially the next games can be decisive for the clubs, whether the respective goals of the season are achieved or not.
Starting position relegation battle:
FC Schalke 04 is likely to be relegated as the last-placed side in the table and not even the biggest optimists have any hope of retaining the class.
More interesting, however, is the situation from 17th place in the table (Mainz) to the 14th place in the table (Cologne).
These teams are only 4 points apart and are definitely to be scored in 10 games.
The Mainzers were able to improve in the return round and appear more stable overall than in the first round. Together with Schalke, they were regarded as having been knocked out and almost certain relegation. The Mainzers have shown in the return round that they are to be expected and they are now back in the middle of the business.
In front of the Mainzers on the relegation place, Bielefeld currently stands at one game less.
It will be exciting how the Bielefelder deal with the surprising and incomprehensible change of coach and whether the Armins can get a little more out of themselves. Regardless of whether the class maintenance succeeds or not, Bielefeld is very respectable for their circumstances. They certainly continue to run as outsiders, but they are also the ones who have the least to lose. The starting position can change significantly again if a victory in today’s catch-up game against Bremen is achieved. Not only would Bielefeld take an enormously important step towards class preservation, they would also drag the Bremen in the middle of the relegation battle.
Hertha BSC is ranked 15th. The Berliners are struggling enormously this season and could be punished with relegation due to poor performances. No one would have expected this at the self-proclaimed „Big City Club“. But if you look at the games of Hertha, this ranking should not be surprising at the moment.
Relegation battle from sports betting point of view:
Even the bookmakers no longer count Schalke’s chance of retaining the class. There is certainly no odds for the bet on a descent from royal blue. You could bet on class maintenance – the rate is currently around 13.0 – but is definitely not recommended. The sporting achievements and the unrest in the surrounding area are well known.
At Mainz 05 and Arminia Bielefeld, the bookmakers estimate it almost 50/50. It should be noted that Bielefeld has one game less, as they are playing the catch-up game today. One can almost be sure that the odds will change, especially at Bielefeld and consequently also at the direct competitor Mainz 05 after today’s catch-up game of Bielefeld against Bremen. Currently there is a 1.70 odds on the Mainz relegation and on their class maintenance the rate is 1.90. At Bielefeld, it’s the other way around. However, Mainz should be regarded as the strongest team in the relegation battle at the moment.
On the other hand, the bookmakers almost see the Cologneand Hertha as saved. Cologne gets a 3.70 on the relegation while Hertha even gets a 5.50 on the descent.
At Hertha, this quota can certainly be justified by the fact that they (actually) bring a completely different quality to The Lawn than Bielefeld. Nevertheless, the Berliners are far from out of the woods.
Starting position Fight for the international places:
Here it seems almost clear who secures the places for qualification to the European competitions.
Borussia Dortmund is currently in sixth place. BVB is now in a proper state again and in this form Black-Yellow is again a candidate for the Champions League places.
Immediately before BVB are the currently weakening Leverkuseners, who absolutely have to catch themselves, because even for them, 4th and 3rd place is still absolutely within reach.
The fourth place is currently home to Eintracht from Frankfurt, which made a sensational run in between, scoring 19 out of 21 possible points. Now there are two winless games against teams and one wonders if the Frankfurters will run out of steam at the end of the season. We will receive the answer in the next few days.
VfL Wolfsburg (ranked 3rd place) is currently very solid and clear-cut. They convince with a very stable defense, which was not necessarily to be expected.
Fight for the international places from sports betting point of view:
The chasers in sixth place are given virtually no chance by the bookmakers in the fight for the European places. The best chance here is Mönchengladbach (5 quota), which seems very incomprehensible due to the current form.
Even Union and Freiburg, who are only 4 and 5 points away from 6th place respectively, do not even get a quota of 10. Possibly also a realistic assessment of the bookmakers, because a qualification of Freiburg or Union for a European competition would be a big surprise.
The battle for third and fourth place seems to be very open. Wolfsburg are playing very solidly, but the question is whether they can maintain that level. Frankfurt must now prove that they still have the energy to win the important games and Leverkusen must get back into shape. Perhaps the win against Gladbach last week did well and gives the Leverkusen game a boost.
The strongest team at the moment seems to be the Dortmund era together with VfL Wolfsburg. Due to BVB’s 6-point gap, however, it would be surprising if BVB is in third place at the end of the season, because they will certainly not win every game just in passing.
The fight for the German championship:
This year the fight for the German championship between Bayern and Leipzig takes place. Bayern currently have 2 points more than Leipzig and both seem to be in good form.
If Bayern have been vulnerable in certain games this season, they now seem to be back in full form in the important games. The best example was the game against BVB. After the early 0-2 deficit, Bayern were absolutely dominant and won a lot in the end.
Leipzig must do their homework and hope for a bayernsman. If Bayern do not, Leipzig must win the return match against Bayern in order to actually be in first place.
The bookmakers consider this scenario to be unrealistic and give Bayern a quota for the championship of only 1.10. Leipzig only gets a 6-man quota.