David Flower
Dailysports's expert
One of the matches of the 16th round of the German Bundesliga will take place on Saturday at the Mewa Arena, where Mainz will host Bochum. We suggest a bet on goals in this encounter with good chances of success.
Match Preview
In the 15th round, Bo Henriksen's team confidently defeated Eintracht with a score of 3:1. In recent weeks, Mainz has shown stability in the Bundesliga: the team has suffered only one defeat in their last 8 matches, winning five and drawing two.
This successful streak allowed the club to climb to 5th place in the standings, marking their best achievement of the season so far. Mainz is just two points short of the Champions League zone, and their closest competitor, Borussia Dortmund, is behind only in goal difference.
As for Bochum, Dieter Hecking's team finally opened their account for victories this Bundesliga season, convincingly defeating Heidenheim 2:0 in the last round. Despite this success, Bochum remains at the bottom of the table, although their gap from the playoff zone has narrowed to four points, giving them a fighting chance for survival.
However, Bochum continues to face serious problems in attack: the team has scored only 13 goals in the championship, with only St. Pauli performing worse in terms of scoring (12 goals). Away from home this season, Bochum has yet to win in eight matches, earning only one point in their last away game against Union Berlin.
Probable Line-Ups
- Mainz: Zentner; Kohr, Bell, Jenz, Mwene; Amiri, Sano; Kachi, Lee, Nebel; Sieb
- Bochum: Drewes; Bernardo, Ordec, Oermann, Wittek; Losilla, Sissoko; Passlack, Bero, Hofmann, Broschinski
Match Facts and Head-to-Head
- Mainz has defeated Bochum in three of their last five encounters, losing only once.
- The "Over 2.5 Total Goals" bet succeeded in four of their last five matches.
- The "Both Teams to Score" bet succeeded in four of their last five meetings.
Prediction
Bookmakers favor the home team in this match, offering odds of 1.61 for a Mainz victory. Given the high-scoring nature of their recent head-to-head games, our pick here is "Both Teams to Score" with odds of 1.78.
