Mainz vs Koln predictions for Sunday’s Bundesliga fixture at Mewa Arena. Can the hosts extend their unbeaten run? Or will the visitors pick up a first league win in three? Read on for our free betting tips and predictions.
The owners of 17 points so far, Mainz have made a relatively pleasing start to the new campaign. They find themselves sat inside the all-important top seven, while they come into this fixture off the back of three positive results, winning two and drawing against Gladbach last time out. Such form is not to be sneezed at, especially for a side that hasn’t finished inside the top half since the 2015/16 season.
At home, things have gone very well. Sunday’s hosts have won three, drawn two and lost just one, scoring ten and conceding only four in the process. A 50% clean sheet ratio bodes well, as do positive results against numerous top-half sides.
Unlike the hosts, the visitors don’t find themselves in the top seven, nor are they currently in the top half, but they’re not in a terrible position, and in fact, as they sit just three points off Mainz, are nicely poised.
The problem for Koln is inconsistency. At times, they’ve come to the party and looked like a side capable of getting results, but on other occasions, they’ve looked out of sorts and have struggled to get going. The fact that they remain without back-to-back league wins this season is concerning, as is no away win in five, three of which they’ve lost.
Koln arrives at this junction out of sorts and without a win in four, so it’s hard to view this as anything other than a big opportunity for Bo Svensson’s men, who in contrast, come here in solid form.
The efforts of the hosts on home soil far surpass anything achieved by the visitors on the road, so much so that early odds of 2.10 look slightly generous. After all, we’re talking about a team with an expected goal difference of +0.67 at home, going up against an away team with a travelling expected goal difference of -0.94.