Football – Germany – Bundesliga
Saturday 23rd May 2015 – Kickoff: 1530hrs
Borussia Moenchengladbach secured the all-important third place in the German Bundesliga last weekend when they registered an excellent 2-0 win at Werder Bremen and pipped Bayer Leverkusen to the last automatic Champions League berth.
They now host sixth placed Augsburg at their Stadion im BORUSSIA-PARK ground which has been virtually a fortress for the home side throughout the season as they’ve suffered just one defeat all campaign. Their overall record stands at 12-3-1 31/11 and overall they’ve won eight of their last nine matches, while on home turf, they’ve won their last nine on the trot, scoring 20 goals and conceding just four in reply.
Moenchengladbach’s likeliest anytime goalscorers appear to be forward Kruse and attacking midfielder Raffael (11 goals apiece), with Raffael bagging a brace at Werder Bremen last weekend. Raffael has scored 6 goals in his last 9 Bundesliga appearances, while Kruse has scored 4 in his last 6 appearances.
Visitors Augsburg suffered an unexpected 2-1 home defeat to Hannover 96 last weekend which has really thrown the cat amongst the pigeons and gives Borussia Dortmund a sniff of pulling the proverbial rug from under their feet with just one match remaining of the season.
Augsburg’s form has slipped in dramatic fashion in the past few weeks as they’ve registered just two Bundesliga wins from their last nine matches overall, which were wins over Stuttgart and a miraculous win at Bayern Munich.
But their form on the road overall has been more miss than hit as their record of 5-0-11 12/21 shows, along with a run of five away defeats on the trot before their amazing 1-0 win at Bayern – although it could be argued that Bayern had other things on their minds ie a return date with Barcelona in the Champions League.
To sum up, ‘Gladbach are in solid form right now and with home advantage behind them, I’ll back them to also cover the -1 asian line against Augsburg who, along with second from bottom club Hamburg, have lost the most away matches this season. Could be a 2-0 win for the hosts here.
Pick: Borussia Moenchengladbach AH-1 @ 1.93 Bet Victor
