An away trip to challenging Midtjylland offers one of the opportunities for Pellegrino Matarazzo to retain his position as head coach of Hoffenheim. The German side consistently heated things up in the Bundesliga, but they haven't managed to get the desired results since the campaign's start – the management is already considering replacements for the American coach.
In the Champions League qualifiers, Midtjylland reached the final round but stumbled against Slovan Bratislava (2:3), despite having equal chances with the Slovak side (1.56 vs 1.58 in xG). In September, the Danish side secured three wins and a draw, but despite these solid results, their defence hasn't shown much improvement (conceding five goals). On Sunday, they staged a heroic comeback while down to 10 men against Randers (2:2) – they have many strong options on the bench.
Andrej Kramarić's goal-scoring heroics (4+1 in the Bundesliga) haven't helped Hoffenheim to confidently kick off their league campaign. A series of three losses have brought the team close to the relegation zone – they have conceded 11 goals in 4 games (second worst in the tournament). Over the weekend, they conceded twice by the sixth minute against Union Berlin but managed to pull one goal back (1:2).
Over the past month, Midtjylland and Hoffenheim have accumulated an impressive series of over 2.5 goals (11 matches in total). In Herning, we can expect an open game – both teams are capable of delivering the highest-scoring match of the round.
