Koln vs Werder Bremen Prediction: Expect a stalemate in North Rhine-Westphalia

It would only take a few more wins for Werder Bremen to emerge as genuine contenders for a top-six berth in the Bundesliga and they will look to boost their chances when they visit lowly Cologne on Friday (KO, 19:30.

The hosts, meanwhile, are merely looking to keep their heads above water in the German top flight, having dropped into the relegation playoff position with only 16 points collected from their 21 matches.

Team News

Defender Julian Chabot is suspended for hosts Cologne, who will also be missing Davie Selke, Mark Uth and Luca Waldschmidt.

Leon Opitz, Amos Pieper and Milos Veljkovic are all sidelined for Werder Bremen, meanwhile, and Niklas Stark is a doubt.

Match Odds

Cologne are 6/4 favourites to win Friday's match at the RheinEnergie Stadion with visitors Werder Bremen a 9/5 chance. The draw is available at 12/5.

It is 5/6 your choice in terms of over/under 2.5 goals while it is 4/6 that both teams find the net.

Marvin Ducksch is the 15/8 favourite to get on the scoresheet, followed by Bremen's Rafael Borre at 5/2 and Cologne centre forward Florian Dietz at 12/5.

Draw @ 12/5

Werder Bremen have been one of the in-form teams in the Bundesliga since returning from the winter break and they are steadily climbing the standings.

After a 1-1 draw with Bochum in their first match of 2024, Bremen subsequently beat Bayern Munich, Freiburg and Mainz to enhance their pursuit of the European places.

But they endured a setback at home to Heidenheim on Saturday, losing 2-1 to a side also lingering in the mid-table positions.

That will likely have knocked Werder Bremen's confidence a little, especially as the match took place at the Weserstadion, and they will seek a response against Cologne.

But while the Billy Goats are in the relegation playoff position ahead of Friday's contest, they know how to frustrate opponents and make themselves tough to break down.

They managed to pick up a 1-1 draw from their game with Hoffenheim on Sunday and that was their seventh stalemate of the campaign.

Since the start of December, Cologne have also shared the spoils with Mainz, Heidenheim and Wolfsburg and, at 12/5, the draw looks a big runner on Friday night.

Marvin Ducksch to score anytime @ 15/8

Werder Bremen have scored 30 goals in 21 Bundesliga matches this season, almost a third of which have been netted by forward Marvin Ducksch.

Ducksch has scored nine goals in 20 matches in the German top flight and has been key to Bremen's recent resurgence, scoring against Freiburg and Mainz.

Ducksch is typically on penalty duty for Bremen and, with that in mind, he represents a value bet to score in this game at 15/8.

Check out the rest of our Football Betting Tips here.