Bochum-Hoffenheim is a match in the 31st day of the Bundesliga and is played on Friday at 8:30pm: live TV, likely lineups, predictions.
Bochum, one of the most struggling teams in the Bundesliga at the moment, flirted with the relegation zone again last week, slipping to third-last place. The exoneration of Thomas Letsch for now seems not to have had the desired effect, with the white-blue continuing to miss the appointment with three points since last February.
Since the new coach, Heiko Butscher, has been on the bench, Bochum has scored one point in two matches and last Saturday lost the direct clash with Wolfsburg (1-0) in bloody fashion. If the league – absurdly – ended today, then, Losilla and his teammates would be forced to play the promotion-relegation playoff with the third-place finishers in the cadet league, with the risk of finding themselves back in the Zweite Liga – the German equivalent of our Serie B – three years after promotion in 2021. Bochum’s main problem for some time now has been a defense that continues to concede too many goals. After the defeat at the Volkswagen Arena, there are as many as 60 in total: worse only the tail-end Darmstadt has done.
Hoffenheim also has to deal with a “dancing” defense, but although the Sinsheim club has conceded the same number of goals as Bochum, it is far ahead in the standings thanks to 19 more goals scored. Pellegrino Matarazzo’s team can still secure qualification for one of the upcoming European cups, being just a pasting away from seventh-placed Freiburg. On the road Hoffenheim has not won since February, but in their last 2 home matches they got the better of both Augsburg (3-1) and Borussia Monchengladbach (4-3).
The prediction
Hoffenheim, while not winning away from home for more than two months, should come out with a positive result from the Vonovia Ruhrstadion, taking advantage of a struggling opponent Bochum. Both teams do not shine in the non-possession phase, which is why we expect a match of at least one goal on each side.
The likely lineups of Bochum-Hoffenheim
BOCHUM (4-3-3): Riemann; Passlack, Ordets, Schlotterbeck, Bernardo; Losilla, Mašović, Stöger; Bero, Hofmann, Wittek.
HOFFENHEIM (3-4-1-2): Baumann; Kabak, Grillitsch, Drexler; Kadeřábek, Prömel, Tohumcu, Skov; Kramarić; Weghorst, Beier.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-2
