Football betting tips: Bundesliga
2pts Over 11.5 corners in Leverkusen vs Frankfurt at 2/1 (General)
Top-flight domestic football returns across Europe and Germany is no exception, although it's been a headline-grabbing period for Bayer Leverkusen.
Former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag was tasked with returning them to the top following Xabi Alonso's departure for Real Madrid. That, in such a short space of time, quickly became a disaster.
Ten Hag was sacked on September 1 after two games. A draw and a defeat on the pitch but a relationship breakdown off it.
The board were far from impressed with his approach to management. Players were isolated and confused with what was required from them. He was far from a popular figure for those at all levels in Leverkusen. That's all according to media reports anyway.
But then that makes sense. You don't typically get sacked after two games for performances and performances alone. They've, at least, acted early enough to salvage a season and more.
We talk about Leverkusen because they're involved in the free-to-air Friday game in the UK. It's Kasper Hjulmand in charge now, best known for his Denmark spell, and they welcome Eintracht Frankfurt.
It's a meeting of two sides who are familiar on the European club competition scene. Two sides who expect to be challenging for the top four every season. This campaign will be no different.
Bayer Leverkusen vs Eintracht Frankfurt
- Kick-off: Friday, 19:30 BST
- TV: BBC iPlayer
- Live odds, form and stats
A change in management obviously brings a change in approach.
We can only base what we expect from Leverkusen on what Hjulmand did during his time at Denmark. One thing we should now be seeing more of is their use of wide areas.
It was a feature of them across the past couple of major tournaments. They spent 11.8% of time in wide areas at the World Cup in 2022, per FIFA's technical analysis report, and that was the seventh-most of the 32 teams involved.
That saw them attempting 21.3 crosses per 90 with only Mexico (23.5) seeing more.
At the Euros in 2024, they averaged 19.3 crosses per 90 which ranked them seven of 24. The 6.75 corners per 90 average putting them third.
He hasn't had a huge amount of time to work with his new players but you'd imagine Hjulmand will want to see this to be a feature of his side's build-up from the start. That should lead to CORNERS if so.
Multiple bookmakers over 2/1 on OVER 11.5 CORNERS in the game which is the bet I'm willing to back.
It's a preferable route instead of backing either side to hit a certain amount because I'm not entirely sure how the game state will go given the managerial change for the hosts.
But Dino Toppmöller's Frankfurt were also regulars in this area last season. They ranked fifth for corners taken while they took seven in the victory over Bremen and five as they won at Hoffenheim in their opening two games.
Odds correct at 1630 BST (11/09/25)
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