Bundesliga Matchday 9 Odds & Picks: Cologne vs Bayer Leverkusen, Stuttgart vs Union Berlin & More

• It is the Bundesliga’s Matchday 9 this weekend, starting on Friday with Mainz 05 vs FC Augsburg
• Bayern Munich leads the table with BVB, Bayer Leverkusen and SC Freiburg in the chasing pack
• We list the odds for all nine games and preview three, offering our best picks

Bundesliga Matchday 9 kicks off on Friday, October 22, at 2:30 pm EST, with Mainz 05 vs FC Augsburg, with five more games taking place later on Saturday and three on Sunday. Bayern Munich is, unsurprisingly, top of the table with, equally unsurprisingly, BVB a point behind them in second.

Read on to see the odds and our best bets for the weekend’s action below.

Bundesliga Matchday 9 Odds

All odds as of October 22 at DraftKings

FC Cologne vs Bayer Leverkusen Prediction

Third-placed Leverkusen visits Cologne’s RheinEnergieStadion, knowing a win will keep them in touch with leaders Bayern and second-placed BVB, who are three and two points ahead of them respectively. Cologne, too, is in the frame at the top of the Bundesliga table, having lost just twice and is only four points shy of Sunday’s visitors but, however, both come into this game off the back of heavy defeats.

🎙 It's press conference time at Geißbockheim! We're about to start ahead of the game against Bayer Leverkusen. #KOEB04 #effzeh pic.twitter.com/0oWRAtUhNd

— 1. FC Cologne (@fckoeln_en) October 22, 2021

The conquerors of Leverkusen were the mighty Bayern, who laid down a serious marker to all would-be challengers with a 5-1 win, while Cologne was surprisingly thrashed 5-0 by mid-table Hoffenheim. Both teams will be desperate to return to winning ways, albeit the confidence of both will have taken a serious hit and much will depend on who is able to react in the most positive manner. Leverkusen steadied the ship to a certain degree in midweek with a 1-1 draw with Real Betis in the Europa League.

🗣 Seoane: "In the first half we made too many mistakes, which Bayern exploited very well. The early own goal was a blow in the neck. We then had seven or eight very bad minutes …"#B04FCB | 1-5 | #Bundesliga pic.twitter.com/k1exOuYl9S

— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) October 17, 2021

Leverkusen’s extra quality and the fact they had that decent result in the Europa League could be decisive, with the presence of one of Europe’s most in-form strikers, Patrik Schick, a key factor too. With the visitors in plus money, there is value here in the away win.

Picks: Leverkusen to win (+110)

VfB Stuttgart vs 1.FC Union Berlin Prediction

Despite kicking off the campaign with an emphatic 5-1 win over Fürth, Stuttgart has had an inconsistent start. They are currently down in 12th after picking up just two wins but did earn a useful 1-1 draw away to Borussia Monchengladbach last weekend. They welcome fifth-placed Union Berlin to the Mercedes-Benz Arena on Sunday, hoping to build on that draw and move themselves up into the top half of the table.

Preparing for Sunday's clash with @fcunion_en ⚪️🔴#VfB pic.twitter.com/wcKI2YnMTk

— VfB Stuttgart_int (@VfB_int) October 21, 2021

Union, by contrast, has started the season well and has shown a good degree of consistency. Their only defeat so far was against BVB and they come into this off the back of a three-game winning run, with last weekend’s 2-0 win over Wolfsburg being particularly impressive. They currently look well set for a top-four challenge.

🎯 Time to focus on #FEYFCU#UECL pic.twitter.com/fWdEaR7x6a

— 1. FC Union Berlin (English) (@fcunion_en) October 20, 2021

While the home team starts a favorite, the form and momentum are with Union and so, for me, the +185 for the away win is very tempting.

Pick: 1.FC Union Berlin to win (+185)

Hertha Berlin vs Borussia Monchengladbach Prediction

Borussia Monchengladbach visits the Olympiastadion on Saturday hoping for a win that will take them up to the top half of the table. A 3-2-3 record to date perfectly reflects a team that is capable of big results on its day but one that also lacks the consistency to push on for a top-four place.

🎙️ @arnefriedrich: We're pleased that the injury list is getting shorter and shorter. We've often had to change things around and we've had to do without important parts of the team. Hopefully it stays the way it is now.#BSCBMG #GemeinsamHertha #HaHoHe pic.twitter.com/urLGrc9yCf

— Hertha BSC (EN) (@HerthaBSC_EN) October 21, 2021

Hertha currently sits down in 13th but comes into this with huge confidence after a thrilling 2-1 away win against Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend; their third win of a campaign. Interestingly, they have lost their five other games, with not a single draw so far. Worth noting is that if Hertha is able to beat Monchengladbach here, they will leapfrog them in the table.

🎙️ Hütter: "@Deniszakaria8, Manu Koné and Jonas Hofmann have been the leading players on the pitch lately. They have their noses in front performance-wise, so I don't see any reason to change things."#DieFohlen #BSCBMG pic.twitter.com/mP7YmYS0AD

— Gladbach (@borussia_en) October 21, 2021

With the visitors pitched at even money, it is clear where the bookies expect the cards to fall but Hertha will be buoyed by that big result in Frankfurt. Their horrendous goal difference of minus 11 is specifically down to two games – a 5-0 defeat by Bayern and a 6-0 thrashing by RB Leipzig – and, those two apart, they have been quite solid at the back, so expect this to be tight, and probably low-scoring. For me, the value here is with Hertha drawing their first game of the season.

Pick: Hertha and Monchengladbach to draw (+270)