Bundesliga Matchday 2 Odds & Picks: Intriguing Clash Between Leverkusen and Leipzig

• The second Matchday of Germany’s top flight begins on Friday with Hertha Berlin taking on Frankfurt
• RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen will meet this weekend as both teams try to regroup after losing their star players Timo Werner and Kai Havertz to Chelsea
• Get the full odds, preview, and best bet for all nine matches below

Seven teams grabbed the full three points on Matchday 1 in the Bundesliga, but Bayern Munich’s dominant performance over Schalke highlighted the weekend. The reigning champions buried their opponents 8-0, with Serge Gnabry bagging a hat-trick and Leroy Sane scoring his first goal for the club since making the move from Manchester City in the summer.

As we look ahead to this upcoming round of fixtures, Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig could be the most exciting one of the weekend. Both sides just lost their star attackers to Chelsea in the summer but regardless, they’ll be fighting hard to secure a top-four finish. In other matches, Bayern takes on Hoffenheim, while Dortmund faces Augsburg.

Bundesliga Matchday 2 Odds

Pick 1: Bayer Leverkusen vs RB Leipzig

Leverkusen welcomes Leipzig to BayArena this Saturday looking to break a four-match losing streak at home against Julian Nagelsmann’s side. In 2018/19, Leipzig was dominant against Bayer, then last season, they tied 1-1 on two separate occasions.

Peter Bosz’s men felt the absence of Kai Havertz in their season opener, tying 0-0 with Wolfsburg. The youngster left for Stamford Bridge this summer, leaving Leverkusen’s attack slightly thin for the time being. But, they did bring in Patrik Shick from Leipzig, so the hope is that he can provide some consistency in the final third.

Leipzig enjoyed an impressive start to the campaign, beating Mainz 3-1. They’re relying on Yussuf Poulsen and Dani Olmo a lot more now with Werner also gone, but even without the speedy striker, Leipzig did quite well in the latter stages of the Champions League. They just secured the signing of Alexander Sorloth from Turkish side Trabzonspor, which should also add more firepower on the attack after scoring 24 goals last term for his former club, tops in the Turkish league.

Leipzig is still a very strong side even without Werner. They’ve also lost just once in their last eight appearances against Leverkusen. With this in mind, I’m giving Nagelmann’s side the upper hand. They will secure a two-goal victory on Saturday.

Pick: Leipzig +120

Pick 2: Hertha Berlin vs Eintracht Frankfurt

Frankfurt will be looking for a similar result to their last meeting with Hertha on Matchday 31 last season, where they trailed 1-0 early but came back to bury them 4-1. Eintracht tied newly-promoted Arminia Bielefeld 1-1 in their opener last weekend after Andre Silva netted an equalizer in the 61st minute. Frankfurt looked dangerous throughout the match but struggled to finish their opportunities. Nevertheless, it was an encouraging performance.

🗣 BL: A few things have changed since the last time we faced Eintracht. In that match, we had a man sent off and defended poorly after the red card. We allowed SGE to show their quality. We are facing a physical, dynamic team, but we want to come out on top!#BSCSGE #hahohe

— Hertha Berlin (@HerthaBSC_EN) September 24, 2020

Although Hertha Berlin has been in poor form against their Matchday 2 counterparts, they’re fresh off a convincing 4-1 win against Werder Bremen last weekend. Colombian Jhon Cordoba, who recently joined Hertha on a four-year deal from Koln, impressed in his debut, coming on as a substitute and scoring the fourth goal.

Despite going winless in their last three fixtures against Frankfurt, Hertha has beaten them 29 times throughout their history. They’ve only beat Hamburger SV more times (30). Bruno Labbadia’s side will build off their victory over Bremen and finally grab three points against Frankfurt this weekend. I believe it will be a close fixture, with the home side winning by one goal.

Pick: Hertha Berlin +130

Pick 3: Schalke vs Werder Bremen

Both these sides come into this meeting fresh off lopsided defeats against Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin. But considering the previous matches between Schalke and Bremen, the latter has been the more dominant side. Florian Kohfeldt’s squad has won seven of their last ten against Schalke.

Schalke was throttled by Bayern just a week ago, losing 8-0 to the champions. Unfortunately, it was the biggest defeat ever on the opening day of the Bundesliga season. History isn’t on their side heading into this match against Werder but considering their run of negative results against them, it’s about time they secure three points.

Bremen will also be looking for their first victory of the new season after losing 4-1 against Hertha. Manchester United loanee Tahith Chong had a promising debut for his new club, while American Josh Sargent also had some moments of encouragement on the attack. Standout winger Milot Rashica missed the opener due to a slight knee injury and constant links to a move away from the club. His absence was missed and it will be a huge boost to their starting XI if Rashica decides to stay in Germany.

I think their embarrassing loss to Bayern was a huge wake-up call for Schalke. They’re back playing at Veltins-Arena and it’s the perfect moment to actually put together a result against Werder Bremen. It will be a hard-fought match from both sides, but the hosts will pull out a one-goal victory on Saturday.

Pick: +150