TSG Hoffenheim vs Hertha BSC 16/05/20

16 May 2020

TSG Hoffenheim will look to extend their unbeaten run in the Bundesliga (BL) home H2Hs with Hertha BSC to six matches (W4, D1) when the two sides lock horns at the PreZero Arena this weekend.

Sitting two points adrift of six-placed Schalke 04, the hosts remain in contention for European football, but they’ll have to improve their form to achieve the top-six finish. Four of Hoffenheim’s five league fixtures before the pandemic ended separating the sides by under 1.5 goals, with Alfred Schreuder’s team failing to clinch a single triumph across those games (D2, L3). Hoffenheim’s home BL action usually sparks into life after the break, with 12 of their 19 league goals score here coming in the second half of play (63%). But, their main problem remains a leaky backline that has conceded 31 of 43 BL goals at home (72%), with 17 of them arriving in the second 45 minutes. 

Meanwhile, the visitors were on a three-game winless BL run before the pandemic stopped proceedings (D2, L1), conceding over 1.5 goals in each and ten in total. That’s, however, a sharp contrast to Hertha’s away form before the coronavirus outbreak. In fact, ‘Die Alte Dame‘ avoided failure in five straight league trips before the season was frozen (W3, D2), with all three of those triumphs arriving via a single-goal margin. Much more clinical in the second half of play, Bruno Labbadia’s men have notched up 72% (13) of their 18 BL away goals after the halftime break.