VfL Bochum – Borussia Mönchengladbach
The Bundesliga goes into the 6th matchday this weekend. In the Saturday conference, five exciting games await us fans. In the Ruhr area there will be a real crisis duel. In the Ruhrstadion, two teams will meet that are still without a win. Our Bochum – Gladbach tip will tell you which team will get its first win on Saturday.
For both clubs, this weekend’s clash is of enormous importance, as both teams are in 14th and 15th place before the sixth matchday. In addition, both teams suffered another defeat the previous week. While Bochum went down 0:7 in Munich, Gladbach held their own for a long time at home against RB Leipzig and only lost by a hair’s breadth with 0:1 in the end.
Bochum – Gladbach info:
- Date & Time: 30.09.2023, 15:30 Uhr
- Game venue: Vonovia Ruhrstadion, Bochum
- Competition: Bundesliga, Matchday 6
- TV broadcast: Sky
Bochum Form & Balance Check
As expected, VfL Bochum once again fought against relegation until the last matchday in the pre-season and ultimately secured their relegation with a 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen. And this season, the men from Castroper Straße are once again only concerned with avoiding the drop into the 2nd Bundesliga.
As things stand today, VfL would not have to take this step. However, coach Thomas Letsch’s team is still without a win and occupies 14th place in the German top flight with three points from the first five games. In the previous week, the Bochum side once again picked up the now annual 0:7 defeat against FC Bayern.
Holes in the defence
The amount of defeats has once again led to Bochum having the worst defence in the league. The glimmer of hope for the VfL, however, is that Darmstadt, just like Bochum, has already conceded 16 goals.
In the pre-season, too, VfL struggled for a long time with a holey defence and repeatedly conceded high defeats. At the end of the season, Bochum had the worst defence in the league with 72 goals conceded, but still managed to stay in the league. Bochum fans would probably sign off on a similar outcome in this round as well.
Bochum facts & analysis
- Haven’t lost a game at home yet
- The worst defence in the league
- Finishing 14th in the Bundesliga
Gladbach form & balance check
Under coach Daniel Farke, Borussia trundled out of the last season without much of a revival, especially in the second half, and the eleven from the Lower Rhine finished the season in a disappointing tenth place. With new coach Gerardo Seoane, things should actually be looking up again at Borussia-Park.
However, after five match days this season, Borussia Mönchengladbach only has two points. The last time they had so few points at this point in the season was eight years ago, when they even lost their first five games. Despite the 0:1 defeat against Leipzig the previous week, however, Borussia showed a clearly acceptable performance.
Elvedi remains a Borussian
During the summer break, Borussia Mönchengladbach centre-back Nico Elvedi was on the verge of moving to Wolverhampton Wanderers until the Premier League club broke off contact. The Swiss has since had a rethink and recently signed a contract extension until 2027.
In the meantime, the Swiss is also the first choice again at the Rhinelanders and clearly stabilised the defence of the Foals in the past matches. In the coming weeks and months, Elvedi will certainly want to maintain his form and add a game or two to his 237 appearances for Borussia so far.
Gladbach facts & analysis
- Gladbach have yet to win a game this season.
- Lost 0:1 against Leipzig in the previous week
- Still unbeaten away in Bundesliga
Predicted line-up – last update on 28 September 2023
Bochum will, despite the defeat in Munich, stick with the three-man backline. However, Philipp Hofmann will move back into the starting line-up and form the double top together with Takuma Asano.
We expect Borussia from Gladbach to play with the three-man backline again in Bochum, which has worked quite well recently. Whether top scorer Tomas Cvancara will be available again will only be decided shortly before the match.
Bochum – Gladbach direct comparison & statistics
In history, VfL Bochum and Borussia Mönchengladbach have met 89 times so far. Of these encounters, Gladbach have won 35 games, while Bochum have won 28. A particularly memorable encounter took place in the 2011 relegation, when Gladbach emerged victorious thanks to goals from Reus and de Camargo.
- Bochum won only one of their last six games against Gladbach.
- Bochum win the first half in 16% of their games, Gladbach in 35% of their games.
- Both stadiums are only 69 kilometres apart
