- Tom Carnduff's Fussball am Freitag 25/26: Staked: 64.5pts | Returned: 80.72pts | P/L: +16.22pts | ROI: 25%
- Tom Carnduff's Fussball am Freitag 26/27: Staked: 14.5pts | Returned: 18.5pts | P/L: +4pts | ROI: 28%
Football betting tips: Bundesliga
2pts Lilian Brassier 1+ total shots at 21/20 (Coral, Ladbrokes)
1pt Lilian Brassier to score anytime at 14/1 (Sky Bet)
A quick glance at the top end of the Bundesliga table after five games will show it playing out largely as expected. A look further down suggests perhaps not.
The fancied sides occupy the top four/five albeit without Bayern in their usual first place. Flanked by Dortmund and Leverkusen, with Freiburg the early pace setters on goal difference, these are teams also featuring in European competitions this season.
But then at the bottom you have Mönchengladbach (although they've been on a gradual decline for years now) and Hoffenheim - a team who should be kicking on this season following a positive campaign in 25/26 where they missed out on the top four by a single point.
The minnows of Elversberg sit in the relative comfort of mid-table. The giants of Eintracht Frankfurt, who feature in this edition of the column, are down in 14th with one win to their name so far.
The start they've endured is puzzling. Teams who are in European competition often somehow fail to balance it with their Bundesliga commitments and yet Frankfurt don't have that this season. Perhaps we could put it down to the slightly tricky start.
That's seen them hosting Freiburg and Augsburg while traveling to Leipzig (a 6-0 thrashing) and Mainz - those four sides sitting in the top eight currently. The 3-3 draw with Union Berlin on opening weekend looking more and more like a missed opportunity.
Eintracht Frankfurt vs Köln
- Kick-off: Friday, 19:30 GMT
- TV: BBC iPlayer, Bundesliga YouTube
- Live odds, form and stats
Köln aren't the worst opponent to face when you need victory, although that's not to say it's a straightforward home win on Friday night.
They've lost both of their away league games this season with Hamburg securing a 2-1 victory alongside Stuttgart putting four past them. Admittedly, both games perhaps should have had a few more goals in their favour.
The one area in which Frankfurt could capitalise is set-pieces. A third of their goals this season have come from corners and free-kicks while half of those conceded by Köln have been from the same situations.
Three of the ten allowed by Köln have been as a result of corners and this is where LILIAN BRASSIER could strike, with his 21/20 price for 1+ TOTAL SHOTS and 14s TO SCORE ANYTIME both worth consideration.
The centre-back returned two shots in that heavy defeat to Leipzig and both of those were from set-piece situations. He is their option when it comes to slightly deeper crosses but he can be the man to strike centrally too.
In the air, he's one of Frankfurt's best. Robin Koch leads the way in this category among regular starts but Brassier makes his fair share of contributions. It's worth pointing out at this stage that Koch is arguably a bigger attacking threat of the duo but his price is half that of someone who will still play their part.
Some bookmakers are going as short as 4/1 on Koch striking anytime. That is not a typo - four to one on a centre-back. Is he prolific then? Not exactly with three goals in 40 Bundesliga and Champions League outings last season, zero in five this time around.
Perhaps there's a potential deeper midfield role in a tactical switch but he doesn't have penalty duties. It's not a price I hold a particular interest in when his partner is much higher.
Brassier's 25/26 Ligue 1 campaign with Rennes delivered an average of 0.40 shots per game with the majority of those being headers from corners. The season before having a 0.85 average with 0.13 on target so it's not as if he's never seen opportunities previously.
He's also not afraid of taking a shot from distance in open play. We've seen that already with a blocked shot from far out in the loss to Augsburg. With Köln potentially standing off at times, Brassier may be in a position to try one if in possession in the opposition half.
Frankfurt desperately need a win and certainly require a response to their humbling in Leipzig last time out. In a game which should see plenty of chances - and hopefully for the neutral, plenty of goals - the value comes in siding with the home side's centre-back to play his part.
Odds correct at 13:30 BST (15/10/26)
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