Cologne-Bochum is a Bundesliga match on matchday 24 and is played on Friday at 8:30pm: TV, line-ups, predictions.
The excellent Cologne of January, who had been able to overwhelm Werder Bremen 7-1 when the Bundesliga resumed and avoid defeat at the Allianz Arena with Bayern Munich, seems to have vanished into thin air. The Billy Goats, after a fine victory against Eintracht Frankfurt a month ago, suffered two ugly defeats in a row against Stuttgart and Wolfsburg, conceding a total of five goals and not scoring any.
Limiting the damage in the away match against Union Berlin was the main objective a week ago, and Steffen Baumgart’s men managed it, drawing 0-0 – their third draw in the last six matches – against the league’s revelation team. The fact remains that Skhiri and his team-mates again ran out of goals, yet another demonstration of an attack that is intermittent: it is inexplicable how it was unleashed in the first two days of 2023, scoring eight goals in 180 minutes, and how it suddenly became asphyxiated in almost all subsequent matches. And in the meantime, Europe has receded. The chances of repeating last year’s result are very slim for a Cologne side that seems destined to finish on the right side of the table. At the moment the red and whites are equidistant from both seventh place and the relegation zone, but it is unlikely they will be sucked into the fight to stay in the category, which has been revived following Schalke 04’s incredible comeback.
Bochum are going down in flames
After their defeat in last Saturday’s direct clash, Bochum, Cologne’s next opponent, are now at the bottom of the Bundesliga table.
Bochum players
Thomas Letsch’s team, beaten 2-0 at home, were joined by Schalke on 19 points, the same as Hoffenheim and Stuttgart. The white-blacks are in a black crisis, nobody has suffered 16 defeats like them, but the numbers say that salvation is still possible. Bochum, however, must try to reverse the trend of the last four matches, in which they have conceded ten goals in total, never scoring. Since January it has picked up barely six points out of 24 available.
The Prediction
This is the right opportunity for Cologne to return to success and turn the page after the mini-crisis. The Billy Goats, however, have not lost to Bochum since 2004. It cannot be ruled out that they will also be able to keep their goal unbroken against an attack that has been dry for four league rounds.
Cologne v Bochum line-up in the unlikely event
- COLONIA (4-2-3-1): Schwäbe; Schmitz, Hübers, Chabot, Hector; Skhiri, Martel; Maina, Ljubicic, Kainz; Tigges.
- BOCHUM (4-3-3): Riemann; Janko, Ordets, Schlotterbeck, Soares; Stöger, Losilla, Kunde; Asano, Hofmann, Antwi-Adjei.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-0
