VFL Bochum 1848 vs 1 FC Heidenheim Prediction: Over 2.5 goals is very likely

This coming Sunday afternoon, in the 15th round of the Bundesliga, they will be playing host to fellow struggling team Heidenheim at Vonovia Ruhrstadion. Bochum will be looking to win for the first time this season. So far in the season, Bochum has been the team that has performed the lowest in the classification. During the first fourteen rounds, they did not take more than three points home with them. The confidence was strengthened, however, by the fact that Dieter Hecking's soldiers were able to hold Union Berlin to a 1-1 draw in the capital at the weekend.

Even though right-winger Koji Miyoshi was shown a red card early on, the match ended in a draw, which was a well-deserved result. Even though they were playing away from home with 10 men on the field for the whole of the match, Bochum showed a remarkable amount of spirit to maintain a scoreless draw. In recent times, Heidenheim has not been responsible for the removal of any trees. In the previous ten matches in all competitions, they were unsuccessful nine times out of ten.

Seven days ago, they were defeated by Stuttgart at home by a score of 1-3. This was the most recent of the disasters that Frank Schmidt's team has experienced. They allowed 17 shots in front of the home crowd, which was yet another terrible defensive performance from Heidenheim.

While Bochum has played 14 league matches so far this season, they have drawn three of those matches and lost 11 of them. They are still looking for their first win of the Bundesliga season. One of those draws was a 1-1 scoreline in the encounter that took place away from Bochum against Union Berlin on the previous Saturday. 

Bochum would have been able to draw some solace from that defeat; nevertheless, if they want to escape being relegated this season, they need to start picking up wins. Bochum will enter the last game of 2024 with seven points separating them from Heidenheim in the relegation playoff spot. This will be the case when the game itself takes place.

Since they have only managed to score 11 goals in 14 league matches, the bottom-tier team is presently tied with St. Pauli for the lowest-scoring total in the Bundesliga. In the meantime, they have the second-worst defensive record in the top flight this season, having allowed 35 goals to be scored against them. This highlights the fact that they need to improve on both sides of the game if they are to see a turnaround in their fortunes.

In their first-ever European campaign, Heidenheim has had a difficult time juggling the demands of the Bundesliga with their first-ever European campaign. After losing eight of their past nine league games, including a 3-1 loss to Stuttgart in their home match on Sunday, Heidenheim is currently languishing in the relegation playoff spot. This is because they have lost eight of their last nine league games.  

As a result of the fact that they have allowed at least three goals in each of their previous five league matches, Heidenheim will be aiming to put on a more impressive defensive performance in their match away from home on Sunday. The away team has not been successful in recent matches against Bochum, as they have not been victorious in any of their seven most recent competitive encounters—two draws and five losses. As a consequence of this, Heidenheim is looking to capture their first victory against Bochum since they triumphed over them by a score of 3-2 in September of 2018.

The only team in the league that has not yet registered a victory is Bochum. The confidence of the hosts was strengthened by a 1-1 tie that took place at Union Berlin over the last weekend. Out of the last ten games across all competitions, Heidenheim has been defeated nine times.

In four consecutive matches in all competitions, they have allowed at least three goals to be scored against them. The following day, on Thursday night, they were also competing in the UEFA Conference League, playing at home against St. Gallen.

The Heidenheim's defence has been terrible as of late, hence I expect goals to be rampant in this game. Over 2.5 goals bring value.