Bundesliga picks

DW's pundits did manage to out-predict their first guest last week, scoring, erm, one whole point more than Niklas Wildhagen of Norway. Thanks for sending in your picks, Niklas. We thought you were psychic when your spot-on prediction for Dortmund's opener came through, but it looks like your contact with the spirit world is only fleeting. Don't worry, we get that too.

Follow us on Twitter (@DW_Sports) for the next chance to be picked to pick!

This week's guest guesser is Ross Dunbar (@rossdunbar93) in Scotland.

Saturday, August 13

Hoffenheim - Dortmund

Hoffenheim held their own against Hanover for large parts of last week's match, and were unlucky that Abdellaoue's first-half penalty proved to be decisive. Still, with the confidence that must be surging through the Dortmund team after their dazzling start, you'd have to expect Hoffenheim to buckle, especially if they go a goal down early. Plenty of players from both teams have been off with national sides, so that factor should cancel itself out.

DW prediction: Dortmund 2-1
Guest prediction: Dortmund 2-0

Wolfsburg - Bayern Munich

An intriguing fixture, with Wolfsburg's away win over Cologne being one of the minor surprises of last week, while it would probably be kindest to draw a veil over Bayern's game against Mönchengladbach. As Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath said, though, "It's not good for us that Bayern got beaten last week." He knows they will want to take it out on his team, but then again, few know Bayern better than Magath, who won two titles with them. It could be a really tight game.

DW prediction: Draw 1-1
Guest prediction: Bayern 2-1

Schalke - Cologne

The two biggest losers from last week come to slug it out like a pair of weary drunks. Schalke at least have the excuse that they were away from home for their 3-0 defeat at Stuttgart, but Cologne - and especially new coach Stale Solbakken, really need a result that makes up for their home 3-0 hiding by the Wolves. Schalke will be without their speedy Peruvian Jefferson Farfan, who is still troubled with a muscle injury picked up in the Copa America. But Cologne have to make do without defender Youssef Mohamad again. His inept replacement Kevin Pezzoni (who did not acquit himself well last week) is also out with the flu, so it looks like they have the bigger personnel problems.

DW prediction: Schalke 2-0
Guest prediction: Schalke 2-0

Freiburg - Mainz

Freiburg did not look especially convincing in their 2-2 draw with Augsburg last week, and it's hard to imagine what would happen if the rumored transfer of their Senegalese star Papiss Demba Cisse to Wolfsburg goes through. For now, though, he remains in the line-up and possibly their only chance against fleet-footed Mainz, who made short work of a lackluster Leverkusen last week. Mainz looked very robust in that game, and will relish the chance to pounce on a weaker side.

DW prediction: Mainz 1-0
Guest prediction: Mainz 3-1

Nuremberg - Hanover

Nuremberg got the better of a disappointing match against Hertha Berlin last week, notching up what they will take as a satisfying 1-0 away win. But then they didn't have to sit through it. Hanover will offer a much sterner test, and will be happy to go after them on the break. As they showed against Hoffenheim last week, Hanover are masters at soaking up pressure once go in front. Still, it should be a tight match between last season's two surprise package teams who both started this one positively. Both sides fancy their chances.

DW prediction: Draw 1-1
Guest prediction: Nuremberg 2-1

Hamburg - Hertha Berlin

Having got their hardest match of the season out of the way already, Hamburg will take comfort from the fact that they won't have to visit Dortmund again. Hertha Berlin at home looks like a much more manageable task. The only way is up from here, and this could be an excellent confidence-building exercise for HSV, who, after all, finished a solid eighth last season. Hertha, meanwhile, looked clueless in their abject performance last week (except perhaps for playmaker Raffael), and coach Markus Babbel desperately needs to pull out his best skills to re-motivate his team.

DW prediction: Hamburg 2-0
Guest prediction: Hamburg 1-0

Mönchengladbach - Stuttgart

It would take some doing for Gladbach to repeat their victory over Bayern last week against a Stuttgart side that trounced Schalke 3-0. But the squad looks to have benefitted from its first full preseason under coach Lucien Favre. The Swabian visitors will conjure bitter memories for the Gladbach players, however. In this fixture last season, on a cold February day, they gave up a 2-0 half-time lead to lose 3-2. Back then that match was described as a microcosm of Gladbach's terrible season. But following that loss, the foals pulled an about-face - only losing one more at home and, improbably, staying up.

DW prediction: Draw 1-1
Guest prediction: Draw 2-2

Sunday, August 14

Kaiserslautern - Augsburg

Augsburg are every pundit's whipping boys this season, but they did keep it together on their big debut against Freiburg to at least come away with a draw. That's more than can be said for the other promoted side Hertha, and indeed Kaiserslautern, who went down with a whimper, losing 2-0 in Bremen. But Kaiserslautern are a better side than that game suggests, having played some solid enough preseason matches. And they have a squad that can bully weaker teams like Augsburg.

DW prediction: Kaiserslautern 3-1
Guest prediction: Kaiserslautern 1-0

Leverkusen - Werder Bremen

Leverkusen have decided to shore up their goalkeeper crisis by borrowing Germany's under-20 keeper Bernd Leno from Stuttgart until the end of the year. Whether he will be able to replace the injured Rene Adler is another matter, but he can't be much worse than David Yelldell, who gave up four goals in Leverkusen’s German Cup loss, and Fabian Giefer, who made a string of mistakes in the loss to Mainz. (Giefer also suffered a concussion in that game.) Bremen, meanwhile, will take heart from their solid win over Kaiserslautern, and from the fact that their defender Naldo may be back from injury. This is a good chance to catch out the vulnerable-looking Leverkusen.

DW prediction: Bremen 2-1
Guest prediction: Leverkusen 3-1

Last week's results:

DW: 5 points
Guest (Niklas Wildhagen (@normusings) of Norway): 4 points

DW total for the season: 5 points

Three points for a correct score prediction

Two points for a correct margin prediction

One point for a correct winner prediction

Author: Ben Knight
Editor: Matt Hermann