German Bundesliga
2010-03-27 - Werder Bremen vs FC Nurnberg
A Sports Betting Pick by Niko
Weser Stadion
Saturday, 27th March 2010 – kickoff 15:30
Werder Bremen
Werder Bremen entered the DFB Cup final where they will face Bayern Munich towards the end of May and they also have been playing great football in the Bundesliga as well.
Last week they came back from behind to win against Vfl Bochum 3-2 then they beat Augsburg and now they are looking forward to continue with their good streak.
Their offense is the best part of the team and often it seems like this team plays with four or five strikers. The team transforms their defense to offense very fast and interesting fact is that the even the defensive midfielder, the veteran team-captain Torsten Frings has scored four goals in the last six matches.
Also, the main striker Claudio Pizarro has been in fantastic form throughout the whole season and he has already scored 24 goals this season, both in the league and cup matches.
Coach Thomas Schaaf will rely on his standard players in the line up with one change; instead of Naldo, who has picked up his fifth yellow card last week, Prodl will take his place in the defense.
Probable Werder Bremen line-up :
Fritz, Mertesacker, Prodl, Pasanen,
Bargfrede, Frings,
Marin, Ozil, Hunt,
Pizarro
FC Nurnberg
FC Nurnberg are in a tough relegation battle and they sit fifteenth at the table with 25 points, just two points above relegation zone. Now they will face a tough rival who are on a roll recently so they will have trouble to get something out of this match.
However, FC Nurnberg plays a lot better against the bigger teams and they proved that by their surprising 1-1 draw against Bayern Munich and the 3-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen a few rounds back. Their form is better home than away, where they usually show poor performances.
In the last two rounds they have showed some signs of improvement with the 2-1 away win over their relegation rivals Hertha Berlin and the goalless draw last week against TSG Hoffenheim.
Good news for the coach Dieter Hecking will be the return of the team`s top striker Albert Bunjaku in the squad (had suffered a muscle strain last week), but still there is a small question mark on him whether he will be fit enough to start this match.
Midfielders Breno and Christian Eigler will not be able to play as they are still recovering from injuries.
Probable FC Nurnberg line-up :
Diekmeier, Wolf, Maroh, Pinola,
Ottl, Tavares, Frantz, Gundogan,
Bunjaku, Choupo-Moting
The Betting Verdict
The first match between these teams ended in 2-2 draw in Nurnberg where Werder Bremen have equalized in the last seconds of the match after being 2-0 down.
The statistics and tradition are clearly on Werder Bremen`s side. Out of 26 Bundesliga matches in Bremen between these opponents, Werder Bremen have won 18 times and five matches were drawn.
I think that this will be a tricky fixture and will be interesting to see how both teams will respond. Werder Bremen have secured their European place for next season by entering the DFB Cup final and FC Nurnberg are in desperate need of points to move away further from the dropping zone.
Werder Bremen are in better form recently, but also FC Nurnberg are on a rise showing some signs of improvement lately. However, with the attacking power and the stronger bench, i do not think that Werder Bremen should have problems winning this match.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Werder Bremen 3-2 FC Nurnberg
BEST BETTING TIP :
