Hoffenheim vs Borussia Dortmund: Preview and Expert Football Prediction

Borussia Dortmund will look to go top of the Bundesliga table when they travel to PreZero Arena to take on a struggling Hoffenheim team. The hosts come into this tie without a win in 12 league games (D2, L10) despite sacking their manager and replacing him with Pellegrino Matarazzo. The new boss has overseen two losses in his first two games in charge of the Sinsheim club. He will hope that the third time’s the charm against title-chasing Borussia Dortmund even though they have recorded eight defeats in their last nine Bundesliga games as pre-match outsiders (W1, L8). Read more: Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid: Preview and Expert Football Prediction Yet, they have a good record against Borussia Dortmund, having drawn five of the last nine home H2Hs (W2, D5, L2), albeit without a clean sheet. But the visitors will fancy their chances here, given that they have won their last eight games in all competitions since the restart. Their 4-1 demolition of Hertha Berlin last weekend left them tied on points with Union Berlin and bitter rivals Bayern Munich in the top three of the Bundesliga standings. And with the other title-chasers playing each other on Sunday, Dortmund will provisionally go top of the league with a victory. Given that they are the only side across Europe’s top-ten-ranked leagues to have won every one of their competitive matches this calendar year, they will fancy their chances of extending Hoffenheim’s run of six straight home games with at least two goals conceded. Meanwhile, a league-high eight (73%) of Hoffeinheim’s eleven home league games this season saw both teams score, so we can expect a high-scoring affair of over 2.5 goals and both teams to score.

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Bournemouth vs Manchester City: Preview and Expert Football Prediction 

Manchester City will travel to Vitality Stadium this Saturday to face Bournemouth in the 25th Round of the 2022/23 Premier League season.  The hosts come into this tie on the back of a gritty 1-0 win over Wolves last time, breathing life into their fight for survival. That result ended a seven-match winless Premier League run (D2, L5). Still, Cherries manager Gary O’Neil is unlikely to care, with Bournemouth dangling only one point above the drop zone ahead of the round. They will likely drop back to the relegation zone here, given their record against City, as they are winless against City in 17 league meetings (D2, L15) – which coincidentally is the most times one team has met another without winning in English football history. Read more: Crystal Palace vs Liverpool: Preview and Expert Football Prediction  Meanwhile, City will be desperate to get back to winning after dropping points in their last two games against Nottingham Forest and RB Leipzig in the Champions League. Both games saw them score first in the first half but conceded late second-half goals.  Still, they have been given a 52.5% chance by Opta Analyst to win the league ahead of their chase of a 200th PL away victory despite sitting two points behind Arsenal ahead of this game.  Given their record in this game, we can expect another high-scoring affair with over 2.5 goals scored. 

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Leicester City vs Arsenal: Preview and Expert Football Prediction 

Arsenal will continue their quest for the Premier League title this Saturday when they travel to King Power Stadium to face Leicester City.  The Foxes come into this tie after a disappointing 3-0 loss to Manchester United. The loss ended a four-game unbeaten run for the hosts (W3, D1) and saw them fail to score for the fourth time in the last ten games. They will be desperate to return to winning easily here, yet have a terrible record against the Gunners, having lost their last four games against Mikel Arteta’s side. However, the Premier League leaders returned to the top of the league table after coming from a goal down to record a 4-2 win over Aston Villa. Read more: Empoli vs Napoli: Preview and Expert Football Prediction The win ended a run of four games without a win (D1, L3) for the North Londoners and restored some belief that they can indeed go the length to win the title. Having scored more than one goal in seven of their last nine away victories in the league, we shouldn’t expect Arsenal to take their foot off the gas here. Therefore, the correct prediction for this game will be over 2.5 goals and BTTS/GG. 

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Rodrigo Bentancur ruled out for the rest of the season

Tottenham Hotspur have been dealt a massive blow in their quest for a top-four finish, with key midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur now ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery. The Uruguayan midfielder was forced off after 65 minutes of Spurs’ 4-1 defeat at Leicester on February 11 after scoring the opening goal. After the game, it was revealed that he had ruptured his cruciate ligament, but further scans showed that he needed surgery in the knee. Read more: Liverpool interested in Gvardiol The 25-year-old has now undergone knee surgery and will be sidelined until November, meaning he will be missing for the remainder of the 2022-23 campaign. The news of Bentancur’s absence will be a significant blow for Tottenham as the player has been one of their standout performers this season. He has scored six goals and provided two assists for the North London side this season from midfield.

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Manchester United want Napoli defender Kim Min-Jae

Premier League giants Manchester United are reportedly looking to sign Napoli’s centre-back Kim Min-Jae. The Old Trafford side want to bolster their defensive unit this summer and are considering the South Korean international as a potential signing this summer. Read more: Leicester City target Juventus defender  Min-Jae, 26, has been a steady fixture in the Napoli backline this season as they fight to win the Scudetto title. He is considered one of the best defenders in Italy and has effectively replaced Kalidou Koulibaly at the heart of the Napoli defence since signing from Fenerbahce last year. Napoli signed him for just £18 million last year, but he has a £42m release clause. Manchester United can afford that amount, mainly because they could sell Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire to fund the deal.

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Mainz vs Borussia Mönchengladbach: Preview and Expert Football Prediction

Mainz will welcome Borussia Mönchengladbach to Mewa Arena this Friday for the first game of Round 22 of the 2022/23 Bundesliga season. Both teams come into this tie on the back of massive wins and sitting level on points in the table. Mainz were involved in one of the feistiest games of recent years last weekend as they took the lead three times in an eventual 3-2 win over Leverkusen in a game that saw 13 cards shown. Read more: Monaco vs Bayer Leverkusen: Preview and Expert Football Prediction They are sitting in ninth position on goal difference, with their visitors the team directly above them. Their poor goal difference is down to their low attacking numbers, as they are the lowest-scoring Bundesliga side in the top ten with 33 goals. Meanwhile, Borussia Mönchengladbach enter this clash full of confidence after blowing the title race wide open with a 3-2 victory over Bayern Munich last time out. The Foals are currently sitting six points better off than at the same stage of last season. As a result, they can provisionally leapfrog Wolfsburg into seventh place with a victory here. However, playing away isn’t likely to inspire confidence for Daniel Farke’s side as they have picked up just 24% of their points on the road (W1, D4, L5), with only relegation battlers Stuttgart and Schalke winning fewer Bundesliga games on their travels.Despite this, we can expect both teams to score (BTTS/GG) in this game, given their respective home and away forms.

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Fulham vs Wolves: Preview and Expert Football Prediction

Fulham will welcome Wolves to Craven Cottage this Friday in the first fixture of this weekend’s Premier League action. Fulham come into this tie in good form, having won their last three games in all competitions. Their last outing was a 1-0 win over Brighton in the Premier League, placing them just four points behind Tottenham in fourth position. That result also left them with at least ten more points than they accrued in their last two Premier League campaigns. So they will feel confident about continuing that good form here, especially as only Manchester United have won more PL games than Fulham’s six since the restart (W6, D1, L2).  Read more: Manchester United vs Barcelona: Preview and Expert Football Prediction Three clean sheets in their last three PL games will also give them the belief that they can defeat this Wolves side struggling to score goals. The visitors are the joint-lowest scorers in the league this season, with only 17 goals scored in 23 games. They failed to score in their last game against Bournemouth, the side with the league’s worst defence. But they aren’t a bad side under  Julen Lopetegui, who has led them to four wins in eight PL games (D1, L3). Wolves also have a good record against Fulham as they are unbeaten in five head-to-heads against the hosts (W3, D2). Therefore, considering the hosts’ defensive solidity and the visitors’ struggles in front of the goal, we can expect a low-scoring affair with under 2.5 goals.

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Leicester City target Juventus defender 

Leicester City reportedly want to sign Juventus centre-back Gleison Bremer to replace the outgoing Caglar Soyuncu. According to a report from Calciomercatoweb, the Foxes are eyeing a move for the Brazilian defender whose time in Turin hasn’t yielded the expected results.  Read more: City and Tottenham battle for James Maddison However, Bremer has not convinced his coaches since joining the Old Lady from Torino last summer. And so he will be allowed to leave should a team show interest with the right amount. According to the report, the Bianconeri will require a fee of around €40 million to sanction a move. Leicester want the Brazilian to bolster their defence, given that Turkish centre-back Soyuncu is expected to leave this summer.

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Liverpool interested in Gvardiol

Premier League heavyweights Liverpool are interested in RB Leipzig centre-back Josko Gvardiol, says Fabrizio Romano. The Croatian defender nearly joined Chelsea last summer but didn’t get the move. However, his value skyrocketed after the World Cup after an impressive showing in the Croatian national team. At just 21 years, the defender is one of the most sought-after players currently in his position, and Jurgen Klopp’s men have joined the queue for his signature. The Reds’ harsh 5-2 Champions League defeat to Real Madrid demonstrated how much they need refreshing in their defensive department.  Read more: Victor Oshimen coy about his Napoli future However, they are willing to spend to ensure they aren’t left short again if their crop of injury-prone squad members experiences another rash of fitness concerns. Meanwhile, Leipzig coach Marco Rose confirmed that his defender is interested in a Premier League move. After his side’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City last night, the coach said: “Joško Gvardiol will be an RB Leipzig player next season as well. I am the coach, and I am asking for that”.  “He is happy here. He said he wants to play in the Premier League, but he didn’t say when!”

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Manchester United vs Barcelona: Preview and Expert Football Prediction

After a 2-2 draw in Camp Nou, Barcelona will travel to Manchester on Thursday to face Manchester United in the return leg of their UEFA Europa League playoff game. Manchester United felt they deserved to win the first leg after outplaying their opponents, with goal-scorer Marcus Rashford claiming they ‘feel the draw was a loss’. However, the Red Devils returned to winning ways over the weekend, with an excellent 3-0 win over Leicester City, taking them to five points behind Arsenal in the Premier League title race. They are on course to make history as they are still in four competitions. They have the Carabao Cup final to play on Sunday against Newcastle and will be desperate to win here to ensure they can still win all four competitions they’re still playing in. Read more: RB Leipzig vs Manchester City: Preview and Expert Football Prediction They have the ammunition to do that–Old Trafford, where they lost just two of their last 11 UEFA home games (W6, D3) and are unbeaten in 17 competitive home matches (W15, D2). Barcelona have enjoyed little success in Europe this season, losing out on a place in the UCL. But they have been in fine form in La Liga this season and come into this tie on the back of a 2-0 win over Cádiz on Sunday. The result maintained their eight-point lead at the top of the table, making it an incredible 18-match unbeaten run for the visitors (W16, D2). United’s recent home dominance should not faze them despite their underwhelming away record across their last nine UEFA road trips (W3, D2, L4). That said, another BTTS/GG game can be expected, given the goal-scoring abilities of both teams.

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