Home Advantage Must Pay for Hoffenheim

Champions League | Preview

23/10/18

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When the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League group stage draw as made, Manchester City were left very happy. They were placed in Group F along with Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon and Hoffenheim. However, Lyon travelled to the Etihad Stadium and defeated Manchester City on match day one.

Can Lyon repeat their away heroics this week as they make the trip to Germany to take on Hoffenheim?

This will be the second home game of the competition for Hoffenheim. Having picked up a point in a 2-2 draw at Shakhtar Donetsk, a game in which they were leading, Hoffenheim lost 2-1 at home to Manchester City.

Prior to the defeat by Manchester City, Hoffenheim lost 2-1 at home to RB Leipzig and following the Champions League they hosted Eintracht Frankfurt and lost by the same score. Having welcomed their players back after the international break, Hoffenheim got back to winning ways as they defeated Nurnberg 3-1 away from home.

It appears Hoffenheim are struggling at home this season and trends show they have failed to win any of their last four home matches. In addition to the three defeats highlighted above, Hoffenheim were held to a 1-1 draw by Borussia Dortmund.

Hoffenheim’s Champions League home record shows played two, lost two and both defeats were 2-1 at the hands of English clubs.

Lyon could not have asked for a better start to their Champions League campaign this season as they defeated one of the favourites to win the tournament, Manchester City, 2-1 away from home. Having picked up maximum points in what is regarded as their toughest away game in the group, Lyon were disappointed to only pick up a point at home to Shakhtar Donetsk in a 2-2 draw.

Following the home draw with Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon travelled to Paris in Ligue 1 and were defeated 5-0 by Paris Saint-Germain. Despite returning from the international break with a 2-0 home win over Nimes, the title in France is as good as over already as PSG are well clear at the top of the table.

Lyon have a good recent record in the Champions League are undefeated in their last five matches. There have been some good away results including a draw at Juventus and wins at Dinamo Zagreb and Manchester City.

Trends show Lyon have scored in six of their last seven away Champions League matches.

Looking ahead to the team news and Hoffenheim could be without Leonardo Bittencourt and Havard Nordtveit who have a back and muscle injury respectively. Reiss Nelson will hope to get the nod in attack having scored two goals on the weekend.

Lyon are still without creative midfielder Nabil Fekir and he will be a big loss in this game. Maxwel Cornet is struggling with an ankle injury so Memphis Depay should start up-front.

This is the best chance Hoffenheim have had to win a home game in the Champions League and they will begin the match as favourites. However, Lyon have done well in recent away Champions League games and should score at least once, meaning a draw and both teams to score is not out of the question.