Borussia Monchengladbach v Borussia Dortmund Tips: Hofmann to take centre stage
The Bundesliga curtain raiser for Gameweek 17 sees Borussia Monchengladbach take on Borussia Dortmund at Borussia Park.
The Foals edged to a 1-0 victory over Werder Bremen in midweek, which made it three wins from four as they moved to within a point of Friday night's foe Dortmund. Marco Rose also has Marcus Thuram back at his disposal and will likely thrust him straight back into the starting XI from the off.
The visitors' 2-1 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday meant that they missed out on the opportunity to sneak into second spot. BVB will be looking to their wunderkind Erling Haaland for inspiration here. With the Norweigan talisman failing to find the net in his last two games, he is now amidst his longest goal drought of the season stretching a mere three hours. Staggeringly, he has never failed to score in three back to back Bundesliga games since joining from RB Salzburg last January.
- Hofmann 3+ Shots @ Odds of 7/2 with Betfair
- Hofmann 3+ Shots and Haaland 2+ Shots on Target @ 6/1 with Betfair
Averaging 1.4 shots per game, Jonas Hofmann is amongst the Foals' sharpest shooters for the domestic campaign despite featuring in a host of different positions.
The ex-Dortmund midfielder has gone from anchoring his Die Fohlen side to starting in attack and everything in between. However, while his position may vary, his eye for goal has not been jeopardised, evident as he has registered at least one shot in 73% of his Bundesliga appearances. He has had two or more shots on three occasions, attempting three shots thrice in fixtures against Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg and in the reverse fixture against Dortmund.
Whilst Plea and Thuram were absent for the Bayern game, Hofmann was often the man making the runs from midfield in behind Bayern’s high line and he did this to great effect, scoring twice. With Plea and Thuram back in contention to start here he will be relieved of this lung-busting duty which should conserve his energy, freeing him up to do what he does best; operate in the half spaces.
With six assists and two goals to his name in the Bundesliga this season, there is no doubt over Guerreiro’s offensive ability. However, a cute player like Hofmann has all the credentials to punish his positioning. Therefore, I think Hofmann could rack up the shots in a similar fashion to the reverse fixture.
Finally, it is also worth noting that Hofmann is M’GLadbach’s second-highest goalscorer with four. He may also be keen to impress as he faces his former employers here and I think his price of 7/2 just to register 3+ shots here (they don't have to be on target) represents good value. It's worth noting that Hofmann to register 2+ shots is priced up at Evens, which is also a decent price if you want to play it a little safer.
If you are after something a little bit longer, you can combine Hofmann to attempt three or more shots with Haaland to register two shots on target at odds of 6/1 using Betfair’s same game multi feature.
Erling Haland has scored 25 goals in 26 Bundesliga appearances since joining last season! Unbelievably, this season he has registered 76 shots in 22 starts, 58% of which have hit the target. He has had two or more shots on target on 13 occasions which includes the reverse tie of this fixture during which he bagged a brace.
