Thursday, March 22, 2012

Bundesliga Opta Facts Match Day 27


VfL Wolfsburg v Hamburger SV

Hamburg have only won four of their last 14 league games away to the Wolves (D4, L6), but have prevailed on their last two visits to Wolfsburg.

The Wolves have netted more goals against Hamburg (48 in 29 BL meetings) than against any other side in the German top flight.
Hamburg have only taken one point from their last five league games, fewer than any other team in the league during that period.
Only once in their BL history have Hamburg picked up fewer points from their first 26 games than in this campaign (27): in 1972-73 they had only registered 25 points at the same stage.

The Redshorts have conceded more goals from set-pieces than any other team in the league (21).
Thorsten Fink's men have also shipped a league-high 11 headed goals.

Hamburg's current goal difference of -18 is the worst the club has ever had at any point of a BL season.

Wolfsburg have won 76% of their points at home, whilst Hamburg have picked up 59% of their points on the road - respectively the highest proportions in the league.
In the Wolves' 3-1 win at Nürnberg last weekend Mario Mandzukic scored one goal from one shot on target, while two of the three chances he created resulted in goals. His partner up front, Patrick Helmes, scored two goals from two shots on target.
Patrick Helmes started his fourth consecutive BL game against Nürnberg, scoring four goals in the process. The forward has now netted four of the Wolves' last seven league goals.


FC Bayern München v Hannover 96

Bayern have won their last six games at the Allianz Arena, scoring 20 goals in the process.

FCB have enjoyed four wins in their last four BL home games against Hannover.

The Reds have only won one of their 22 BL outings in Munich (D2, L19) when they beat the FCB 1-0 in November 2006.

Hannover have won their last two league encounters with Bayern.

Bayern have become the first side to score six or more goals in two consecutive BL games since Hamburg achieved that feat in February 1982. Only two teams in BL history have ever netted five or more in three BL games on the trot (Hannover in 1965 & Kaiserslautern in 1984), Bayern could become the first side ever to score six or more in three top-flight games in a row.

Both sides are yet to lose after taking the lead this season. Hannover have won 14 and drawn five of the 19 games in which they have been in front, while Bayern are the only side in the league yet to drop a point from a winning position, having won all 17 games in which they have led this term.

The Reds have only enjoyed one win in their last 12 league games on the road (D5, L6) and have failed to score more than one goal in any of these 12 matches.

Bayern winger Arjen Robben has been involved in 56 goals in 55 BL appearances so far (38 goals, 18 assists).

Franck Ribery is currently enjoying his most prolific season for Bayern. The French international has never scored (11 goals) nor assisted (11 goals) more goals in a single BL season.

Reds striker Mame Biram Diouf has scored four goals and assisted two more in his six BL appearances so far, meaning he has been involved with a goal once every 73 minutes.


SV Werder Bremen v FC Augsburg

These two sides will meet in a competitive match for only the sixth time in this game with Werder winning three and losing none of the previous five encounters (D2).

Werder have lost three of their last four league games by a 0-1 score-line, but they picked up all three points in their last home game when they beat Hannover 3-0.

Their 3-0 victory over Hannover was Werder's only win at Weserstadion in 2012 (D2, L1).

FCA are unbeaten in four league games (W2, D2), their longest-ever unbeaten run in the German top flight. Jos Luhukay's men have only suffered one defeat in their last eight BL matches when they lost 4-1 away at Leverkusen (W2, D5).

Augsburg's first and so far only away win this campaign came over five months ago when they won 1-0 at Mainz. Since then FCA have lost five and drawn three of their eight BL games away from home, only Mainz have currently been waiting longer for a win on the road (12 games).

Augsburg (11) have picked up one more point than Bremen (10) since the turn of the year. FCA had previously only taken 15 points from their 17 BL games in 2011.

Fifteenth-placed Augsburg (40) have only shipped one goal more than fifth-placed Werder (39) this term.

Bremen manager Thomas Schaaf has only won one out of five meetings in all competitions with his counterpart Jos Luhukay (D3, L1) and has never beaten the FCA gaffer in a BL game (D2, L1).

Claudio Pizarro will miss the game against Augsburg due to suspension. The Peruvian striker has been directly involved in 58% of Werder's 40 league goals (16 goals, seven assists). Only Köln's Lukas Podolski has been involved in a higher proportion of his team's league goals (61%) this term.

Augsburg have lost none of the four BL games that their top scorer Sascha Mölders (five goals, three assists) hasn't started (W2, D2).


SC Freiburg v 1. FC Kaiserslautern

Lautern have lost eight of their last nine league outings at Freiburg (W1).

Freiburg have already beaten FCK 10 times in the German top flight - only against Schalke have they won as many BL games as against FCK.

After a run of 16 winless games (D9, L7) Marco Kurz was sacked as the FCK manager earlier this week. The Red Devils have never gone longer than 16 games without a win in the Bundesliga.

Lautern's last win came over five months ago when they won this season's reverse fixture against Freiburg 1-0.

FCK have only won three of their 26 league games so far in this campaign. No team that has won less than four games at this point of a BL season has ever managed to avoid relegation.

Freiburg are unbeaten in their four home games since Christian Streich took charge of the club in December (W2, D2). They suffered their last home defeat shortly before Christmas when they lost 4-1 to reigning champions Dortmund at Mage Solar Stadion.

Christian Streich enjoyed his third win in his ninth game as SCF manager when his side beat Hamburg 3-1 last weekend and has now registered as many wins as his predecessor Marcus Sorg managed in the entire first half of the season.

The Red Devils have scored fewer goals (17) than any other team this term and failed to find the back of the net in any of their last three BL games away from home.

Lautern have already been shut out 13 times by their opponents this season. If they fail to score against Freiburg they would set a new negative club record for the most games without scoring in a single BL season.

Despite only conceding one goal in their last three league games Freiburg still have the worst defensive record in the league, having already shipped 53 goals in this campaign.


1. FSV Mainz 05 v Hertha BSC

Hertha have lost two and drawn four of their last six league encounters with Mainz. The Berlin-based side's last win over FSV came back in October 2005 when they beat them 3-1 at home.

Hertha are in the bottom two for the first time in 2011-12. After the first half of the season Berlin were two points ahead of Mainz in the table, now they are seven points behind FSV.
Mainz have won five and drawn two of their last seven games at Coface Arena, the last season in which FSV had such a long unbeaten run at home was 2009-10.
Hertha are winless in seven BL away games and have lost their last four on the road.
Hertha are the only side in the league yet to score a goal away from home in 2012.

Mainz lost their fifth game in which they held the lead this season when they were beaten 2-1 by Augsburg last weekend - a league-high. Additionally, no team has dropped as many points from winning positions as Thomas Tuchel's men (25).
Hertha have only held the lead in one of their last 12 league matches when they beat Werder 1-0 three weeks ago.

The Berlin-based side have never suffered a heavier defeat in the Bundesliga than the 6-0 rout against Bayern last weekend. In that game Hertha also became only the second side in BL history to concede three goals from the penalty spot in one match.
Since the turn of the year Mainz have netted eight times as many goals as Hertha (16 opposed to two).
After a run of six games in which he scored exactly one goal in each match, Mohamed Zidan endured his first goalless league game since rejoining FSV during the winter transfer window in Mainz's 2-1 defeat at Augsburg last weekend.

The Egyptian striker has only netted one goal in 11 BL appearances against Hertha.


Borussia Mönchengladbach v 1899 Hoffenheim

Hoffenheim have only suffered one defeat in 10 meetings with Gladbach in all competitions (W6, D3).

Gladbach and Hannover are the only two sides in the league who are still unbeaten at home this term. The Foals have gone 16 league games at Borussia Park without defeat (W11, D5), currently the longest run of ist kind in the Bundesliga.

1899 have only enjoyed one win in their last 10 BL matches (D6, L3) when they beat Wolfsburg 2-1 on the road.

Borussia have reached the 50-point mark for the first time since 1995-96. Back then they only registered their 50th point of the season after 30 games though, while it took them only 26 matches to get there this time.

Gladbach have only conceded more than one goal in one of their last 36 BL games, when they drew 2-2 with Leverkusen in mid-October. The last team to achieve this feat was Borussia Dortmund who only shipped more than one goal in one of 37 consecutive BL games between August 2010 and August 2011.

The Foals have only conceded 16 goals so far this season, fewer than ever before in the club's history after 26 games of a BL season.

Hoffenheim have gone eight games without a clean sheet, no other team has currently gone that long without shutting their opponents out.

On the other hand, Hoffenheim have found the back of the net in each of their last eight BL games, only Mainz are currently on a longer run of that kind (nine games).

Marco Reus has scored four and assisted six of Gladbach's last 15 league goals. Only Stuttgart striker Martin Harnik has been involved in as many goals (eight goals, one assist) as the Foals midfielder (four goals, five assists) in 2012.

With eight goals in all competitions Sejad Salihovic is Hoffenheim's top scorer. He is also the only 1899 player to score more than one goal since the turn of the year.


FC Schalke 04 v Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Schalke have lost three and drawn two of their last five league home games against Leverkusen.

In total, S04 have only won one of their last 13 league encounters with Bayer.

In February 2006 the Royal Blues beat Leverkusen 7-4, the highest-scoring match in the Bundesliga in over 29 years, since Dortmund beat Bielefeld 11-1 in November 1982.

Schalke won this season's reverse fixture against Bayer 1-0 courtesy of a Jefferson Farfan goal however the Royal Blues have never done the league double over Leverkusen.

Huub Stevens' men have won seven of their last eight league games on home soil (D1), scoring at least three goals in each of those seven wins.

Only twice in their BL history have Schalke scored more goals after 26 games than this season (58). The last time the Gelsenkirchen-based side had netted more at this point of the season came 36 years ago (60).

Bayer have won none of their four late kick-offs this season (D3, L1).

Only Schalke (10) have netted more goals from corners than Leverkusen (nine).

Bayer forward Stefan Kießling has scored five goals in his last five appearances.

Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has netted 38 goals in as many appearances in all competitions so far this term.


VfB Stuttgart v 1. FC Nürnberg

Only against Gladbach (72) have Nürnberg picked up more points in the Bundesliga than against Stuttgart (65, points tallies are adjusted to the three-point rule).

Nürnberg have won five of their last eight BL outings at Stuttgart (D1, L2).

Only Dortmund (20 games) have currently gone longer without defeat than Stuttgart (four games).

VfB have already netted nine goals from crosses (like Freiburg), only Schalke have scored more that way (13), while only Köln (11) have conceded more goals from crosses than Nürnberg (10).

Only Bayern (65) and Dortmund (82) have conceded fewer shots on target than Nürnberg (102).

The Swabians have shipped half of the 34 goals they have conceded so far this term following set-pieces - the highest proportion of any team in the league. Additionally Bruno Labbadia's men have allowed their opponents a divisional high nine goals from corners.

FCN centre-back Philipp Wollscheid has won 72% of his duels, the best duel success rate posted by any player in the Bundesliga this term.

Daniel Didavi, who is with FCN on loan from Stuttgart, has netted Nürnberg's last two league goals.

VfB striker Vedad Ibisevic will miss the game against Nürnberg due to a yellow-card suspension. The Bosnian international has so far been involved in an average of one goal per game since joining VfB during the winter transfer window.

Alexander Esswein who was directly involved in six of Nürnberg's eight league goals in 2012 (three goals, three assists), turns 22 on the day of this match.


1. FC Köln v Borussia Dortmund

Köln have lost nine of their last 10 league encounters with Dortmund (D1).

The Billygoats suffered a 5-0 drubbing in this season's reverse meeting with the reigning champions, it was Köln's heaviest defeat in the Bundesliga in nearly six years.

Since Jürgen Klopp has been at the helm at Dortmund, BVB have won each of their seven BL matches against Köln. The Billygoats have never lost more than eight consecutive BL meetings with any opponent, but are in danger of equalling this neagtive club record if they fail to get anything from their game against the Yellow and Blacks.

Borussia are unbeaten in 20 league games (a new club record), winning 16 and drawing four of these matches.

Köln, on the other hand, have lost four of their last six BL games (W1, D1).

Dortmund have conceded the joint fewest goals (16, same as Gladbach) this term and have not shipped more than one in any of their last 20 league games.

Köln have failed to score more than one goal in any of their last 11 league games.

Additionally, the Billygoats have attempted the fewest (234) and conceded the most shots (424) in this campaign.

Dortmund have taken the lead in a league-high 21 of their 26 BL games so far, while Köln have been behind in a divisional high 19 of their 26 league matches this term. On top of that the Billygoats have already lost 14 games this season, more than any other team in the league.

Köln will have Lukas Podolski back who had to sit out the last game due to suspension. The German international has scored 16 and assisted four of Köln's 33 league goals and has hence been directly involved in 61% of his team's goals this term - the highest proportion posted by any player in the Bundesliga.