Bundesliga picks

Deutsche Welle's pundits are back primed and ready for this brand new season of soccer, having spent the summer studying the finest work of their mentor Paul the Octopus and other zoo-kept football predictor gimmicks. They will be looking to improve on last season's final score of 159 points out of a possible, ahem, 918.

This year, in an effort to keep the pressure on, we've taken to Twitter to find a guest prognosticator each week. Follow us (@DW_Sports) for the chance to be picked to pick!

First up is Niklas Wildhagen (@normusings) of Norway.

Friday, August 5

Dortmund - Hamburg

Dortmund get to begin their title defense with what looks like a tricky opener against Hamburg, a team that finished a decent eighth last season. But HSV, as Hamburg are known, have not had a happy pre-season warm-up. They squeaked past very lowly Oldenburg in the German Cup last week, and looked sluggish in a friendly defeat to Valencia on Tuesday, where captain Heiko Westermann was booed by the fans. Dortmund are without Paraguayan star Lucas Barrios - injured in the Copa America final - but should still have enough to see off HSV.

DW prediction: Dortmund 2-0
Guest prediction: Dortmund 3-1

Saturday, August 6

Cologne - Wolfsburg

Perennial underachievers Cologne scored a coup at the end of last season by signing Norwegian star Stale Solbakken as the new coach. But for his first trick Solbakken stripped club hero Lukas Podolski of the captaincy, which obviously endeared him to the fans no end. "Prince Poldi" accepted the demotion with admirable professionalism, however, and played a blinder in last week's German Cup stroll over Wiedenbrück. Confidence seems to be high in the Cologne camp, while Wolfsburg will hope the only way is up after being dumped out of the Cup by fourth-tier Red Bull Leipzig.

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

Augsburg - Freiburg

Newly-promoted Augsburg have what German football experts call a "solvable task" for their first-ever top-flight Bundesliga match. Freiburg had a great season last time round, finishing above expectations in ninth, but they weakened considerably after Christmas, and with home advantage Augsburg will fancy their chances. Bizarrely though, the Bavarians have decided to hamper those chances by suspending - and possibly ending the career of - their veteran top goal-scorer Michael Thurk three days before the start of the season. The fans are in revolt, and the club is in turmoil at a moment when the nerves will be jangling anyway.

DW prediction: Draw 1-1
Guest prediction: Draw 0-0

Stuttgart - Schalke

Neither side will fancy this one much as a curtain-raiser - both teams are coming off the back of a poor season, and look evenly matched on past form. But Schalke's confidence will be a little higher, thanks to their Super Cup victory over regional rivals Dortmund. They had to do it on penalties, after Dortmund dominated the match, but Schalke showed they have a shard of flint in their core, and will feel up for the fight. Also, Stuttgart will miss top defender Christian Träsch (sold to Wolfsburg), and Schalke have brought back a snappy midfielder in Lewis Holtby.

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

Hanover - Hoffenheim

Hanover would do well to repeat their near-miraculous fourth-place finish of last year, but they have spent the summer cannily reinforcing the side with efficient spending in key areas. The first team is still a well-oiled counter-attacking machine, built to the design of coach Mirko Slomka, and they looked strong and ready in their pre-season friendlies (beating English Premiership side Sunderland 3-1, and holding Olympique Lyon to a 0-0 draw). Hoffenheim, meanwhile, who couldn't break the top ten last season, looked a little rusty in their 3-1 victory over sixth-tier Germania Windeck in the Cup.

DW prediction: Hanover 3-1
Guest prediction: Hoffenheim 2-1

Werder Bremen - Kaiserslautern

Bremen were one of the four Bundesliga sides to get knocked out of the German Cup last week, and looked forlorn as they gave up the lead to go down 2-1 to Heidenheim. But they've had an infusion of bright young talent over the summer, and it's surely only a matter of time before the likes of Mehmet Ekici spark a resurgence. On top of that, Kaiserslautern aren't too hot themselves at the moment, having barely changed their line-up from last season. They look content to consolidate their Bundesliga status. Their pre-season form has been solid - beating inferior teams like BFC Dynamo and Auxerre - but uninspired.

DW prediction: Bremen 1-0
Guest prediction: Draw 2-2

Hertha Berlin - Nuremberg

Having bounced straight back up after the humiliation of 2009/10, Hertha will be keen to come out swinging. Those eight straight defeats at the start of that horror season (match days 2 - 9) sent them sliding inexorably into the pit, and have left a scar. They have home advantage over the ever-resilient Nuremberg (sixth last season), who are suffering from the kind of injury crisis you'd expect in March, not before the campaign has even started. The Nurembergers are without defenders Per Nilsson and Philipp Wollscheid, as well as Robert Mak and Timothy Chandler.

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

Sunday, August 7

Mainz - Leverkusen

Leverkusen, a solid team in anyone's book, surely won't let last week's freak match against second division Dynamo Dresden get into their heads. (They contrived to lose the cup tie 4-3 after being 3-0 up.) But new coach Robin Dutt will struggle to live up to the expectations generated by last season's second place finish. Mainz's competitive season is also off to a poor start, in that they were bounced from the Europa League qualifiers by Romanian side Metan Medias. Tough to see either side getting a win.

DW prediction: Draw 2-2
Guest prediction: Leverkusen 0-1

Bayern Munich - Mönchengladbach

Despite their third-place finish, Bayern have continued their venerable summer tradition of buying up everyone else's best players. So with the addition of Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng and Rafinha - to name but three - the Bavarians once again look stronger than they did last season. So it's hard to see them being given much trouble by Gladbach, who will just be grateful to still be here after the nail-biting relegation play-off that finished last season.

DW prediction: Bayern 3-0
Guest prediction: Bayern 2-0

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