THE Bundesliga's bottom two sides will collide in a crunch relegation clash on Saturday afternoon when Paderborn play host to Werder Bremen.
Paderborn, following back-to-back promotions, are propping up the Bundesliga table, however, Steffen Baumgart's free-flowing football has earned a lot of plaudits and his side will play without fear in this make-or-break meeting
The Bundesliga's bottom side took a point from each of their opening three games following the restart before falling to a 6-1 drubbing at home to Dortmund, however, last weekend's 1-1 draw away at Leipzig once again epitomised the club's never-say-die attitude.
Indeed, there is much to be admired about seeing a newly-promoted side attacking with plenty of spirit, however, with just 20 points on the board, Padderborn will have to pull off the greatest of escapes to avoid an immediate return to the second-tier.
Meanwhile, Werder Bremen are in danger of dropping out of the German top-flight for the first time in nearly four decades following a disastrous campaign that sees the River Islanders currently occupy the second automatic relegation spot.
Florian Kohfeldt's side looked to have boosted their chances of beating the drop after recording victories against both Freiburg and Schalke either side of a 0-0 draw with Borussia Monchengladbach, however, subsequent back-to back home defeats at home to Frankfurt and Wolfsburg have left Bremen on the brink of Bundesliga 2 football next season.
Outright Betting
Paderborn are without a win in 11 Bundesliga matches and the hosts are as big as 2/1 with Bet 365 to bag a much-needed three points this weekend.
Werder Bremen have taken maximum points from their last two road trips and a repeat here pays 11/10 with PaddyPower, while an all-square affair is available at 13/5 with the same bookmaker.
Betting Angles
Given what's at stake, coupled with the fact that this clash will be played behind closed doors, I'm going to steer clear of the outright betting here, however, better value could lie in the card markets.
At the time of writing, match referees have not yet been announced, however, I suspect that this will be a closely-fought contest and with that in mind I like the look of the 8/11 (William Hill) on offer for both teams to collect over one card.
Not only is this a huge game at the bottom of the table, but it's also a battle between two of the most ill-disciplined sides in the Bundesliga.
Only Fortuna Dusseldorf have found themselves in trouble with referees more often than Paderborn this season and Werder Bremen are not far behind when it comes to clocking up cards – both teams are averaging over 2 cards per game this term.
This really does look like an incredibly tough fixture to call which is why I'm going to steer clear of the more traditional markets and instead opt for another alternative angle by delving into the player stats market.
The player I'm going to turn my attention towards is Werder Bremen attacking-midfielder Davy Klassen who looks nicely priced at 5/6 with PaddyPower to have one or more shots on target against Paderborn.
The former Everton man has hit the target 14 times in 29 appearances this season and I like the look of a repeat on Saturday given that Paderborn's adventurous style of play could lead to an open contest at the Benteler Arena.
What's more, the above-mentioned betting angle would have banked profit in three of the Dutchman's last five appearances for Werder Bremen and that adds to the appeal of having a punt on Klassen to hit the target in this relegation six-pointer
This German Bundesliga match between Paderborn and Werder Bremen will be played on Jun 13, 2020 and kick off at 14:30. Check below for our tipsters best Paderborn vs Werder Bremen prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
