SUNDAY IN EUROPE: The Ultra previews Sunday’s games between HERTHA BERLIN v HOFFENHEIM, SCHALKE v AUGSBURG, JUVENTUS v BOLOGNA and REAL MADRID v OSASUNA all with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
HERTHA BERLIN V HOFFENHEIM
2.30pm It’s a hectic weekend as we return to club football, and the action continues on BETDAQ Betting Exchange with games from the Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga on Sunday! We start in the Bundesliga with Hertha Berlin hosting Hoffenheim, and we have a very open market here. Hoffenheim will be delighted with their start to the season – they have recorded four wins from their seven games, and they actually started the weekend sitting one point above Bayern Munich in fourth! Hertha have obviously been involved in the relegation battle for a few years now, but they equally won’t be unhappy with their start to the season. They have grinded out six points from their seven games, and while we all know they have major issues and will likely be in a relegation battle again, they are getting the odd result here and there to just stay out of danger for the time being. My main worry with Hertha is the sides under them – Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg are likely to jump over them soon and even RB Leipzig just above them won’t be there for long. They will be doing battle with the likes of Schalke, Stuttgart and Bochum.
On paper, they will view this as a good chance to collect more points, but Hoffenheim have been playing some very good football at the start of the season. Hoffenheim started the season poorly with a very poor performance when losing to Gladbach, but since then they have turned things around in a massive way. They have created xG figures like 2.31, 1.70, and 5.12 flicking through their results and they have also beaten Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 away from home. They got beaten by Dortmund 1-0 which is understandable, and in general they have been playing at a much higher level compared to Hertha. To their credit, the home side have been trying to grind out results and they got a massive 2-0 win over Augsburg at the start of the month too. I would say their performances this season have definitely improved compared to last season, but I still feel it’s not enough to get a result against an in-form Hoffenheim side. I’m going to keep stakes in check here, but I can only see one winner and I’m happy to take the 2.38 on Hoffenheim.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win Hoffenheim to beat Hertha Berlin at 2.38 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/HerHof
SCHALKE V AUGSBURG
4.30pm We stay in the Bundesliga next as Schalke host Augsburg. It’s fair to say that this fixture might get a little lost amongst the higher quality fixtures around Europe today, but make no mistake this is a massive fixture for both sides. Although they didn’t start the weekend sitting within the bottom three, it’s highly likely that both will be in the relegation mix this season. Schalke have only come back up from the Bundesliga 2, which is pretty weak, after only managing 16 points in 2020/21 in the Bundesliga. Augsburg finished a little away from the danger last season points wise – but they were still sitting in 14th and just two places away from the relegation playoff place. I would suggest Augsburg will stay up this season, but again they are looking at finishing around 14th and I’m sure they will be under pressure at some stage. It’s also fair to say that Augsburg have had more than their fair share of luck to start the season. For example, they beat Bayern Munich before the International break! The game finished 1-0 but they conceded an xG of 2.09 – they did create an xG of over 2 themselves so that’s a massive credit to them, but even so they have more points than they should. The Werder Bremen win was a very even game too, and then they beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 but conceded an xG of 3.26! The reality is that Augsburg are a pretty limited side, but they will grind out enough results to be safe this season. There actually won’t be much between the sides here.
With that in mind, I was very surprised when I clicked into the market had and saw Schalke so short at 2.02. I fully expect a closer game than those odds reflect, and it’s going to be hard to get away from picking the Schalke lay as my best bet here! We actually had a fantastic run laying Schalke when the games were behind closed doors as football returned after Covid19, and hopefully we can land another lay here! Schalke have a very similar profile at the moment when compared to Augsburg – they have played some OK football at times, but they have thrown in some very poor performances too. It’s hard to fully judge them playing Dortmund because of the gulf in class, but they only managed an xG of 0.10! On balance, I would say they look improved from the last time they were in the Bundesliga, but I still feel that they are worth laying here. This is going to be a close game.
The Ultra Says:
Two points lay (liability) Schalke to beat Augsburg at 2.02 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/SchAug
JUVENTUS V BOLOGNA
7.45pm We move over to Italy next as Juventus host Bologna in Serie A. I noted in my preview of Saturday’s games that we’re already having a dramatic season in Serie A – at the moment it looks like the most entertaining high profile league in Europe! However, I do know that Bayern have started slow in Germany – I think we all know they will eventually get on top, but it’s hard to call who lifts the title or even finishes top four in Italy! Juventus started this weekend sitting in 8th place – not as bad as their start to last season, but still pretty poor. They have only managed two wins from their seven games and their only positive at the moment is that AC Milan and Inter Milan have also dropped points! That being said, they started this weekend already seven points off top spot. Their level has dropped in recent years, and they definitely missed the CR7 goals last season – their main aim this season has to be to finish in the top four and go from there. I don’t think they are good enough to challenge for the title.
They should collect three points here though against an average Bologna side. Although else would be a shock, but Juventus aren’t too short in the market. It’s probably a sign of the times that they are trading 1.56 at home to beat Bologna. The visitors have only managed six points from their seven games this season, and they aren’t far away from sitting in the bottom three. I suppose you could call Bologna your classic mid-table Serie A side – they aren’t good enough to get close to the top half of the table but they aren’t bad enough to go down. They will finish in or around 14th. The problem from a betting point of view here is Juventus just don’t inspire confidence this season. In all competitions they are without a win in five, and before the International break they lost to Monza and Benfica. Bologna clearly don’t arrive in good form either, and given the amount of mistakes from both sides this season I feel the best play here is to stay away from the match odds market and opt for Over 2.5 goals at 1.85. Juventus have had a lot of open games already this season, and I expect this to be another. A fascinating situation at Juve at the moment – let’s see can they turn things around.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win Over 2.5 goals at 1.85 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/JuvBlg
REAL MADRID V OSASUNA
8pm We move over to La Liga to finish Sunday as Real Madrid host Osasuna. We have the shortest price of the day here as the Spanish Champions are currently trading 1.33 at the time of writing. It’s hard to blame the market because Real have started the season on fire. They have been exceptionally impressive, and rounded off things with a 2-1 win in the Madrid Derby prior to the International break. They have been playing an open game – basically going with the idea of “we’ll score more than you” and their games have been very entertaining this season. In La Liga their xG figures have been 3.32, 3.39, 2.16, 3.28, 2.81 and 1.52. They have barely put a foot wrong, and carry a perfect six from six into this fixture. Although Real have really impressed me this season, I still feel the title race will be decent viewing – you only have to look at the Barcelona xG figures to see that they have improved massively this season. It will be between those too though, as Sevilla and Atletico Madrid have already dropped too many points to put real pressure on the top two. This is be another win for Real, and we’ll have to look around the side markets for some value.
Osasuna will come into this game with confidence – they have won four of their six La Liga games this season, and they started the weekend sitting in fifth. We all know as the season goes on they will both down to mid-table again, but you can’t knock their start. They have played weaker opposition – beating the likes of Cadiz, Rayo Vallecano and Almeria – all sides that might be in the mix to go down this season. They did shock Sevilla on the opening weekend, but in hindsight we now know Sevilla have started the season very poorly. It’s hard to fully know the performance level of Osasuna because they take a huge step up in class here – interestingly, they did manage hold Real to a 0-0 away from home last season, and they’ve actually got two 0-0’s from the last four La Liga meetings. I expect Real to win here, but I feel they’ll have to work hard for it. It’s going to be one of those games where they have to grind out a win rather than do anything flashy, and Under 2.5 goals is worth a small investment at 2.5 or bigger.
The Ultra Says:
One point win Under 2.5 goals at 2.5 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/RmaOsa
