Football Bet of the Day: Carnival club won't have a party

Hosts' struggles to continue

Mainz v Bochum
Wednesday December 23, 19:45

Darmstadt did all of the heavy lifting in the German Cup for us last night, as their 3-0 win at Dynamo Dresden landed our Over 2.5 Goals bet. We'll look to complete a Teutonic treble of winners tonight, because we're backing Bochum to cause an "upset" at Mainz.

I put upset in inverted commas because the difference between the sides isn't currently as big as you'd think. Mainz are second from bottom in the Bundesliga, they are on their second coach of the season already, and are looking to hire a third after apparently deciding that caretaker boss Jan-Moritz Lichte should return to his role as an assistant. Lichte looked like a broken man after Saturday's 1-0 home defeat to fellow strugglers Werder Bremen, a game that saw the hapless Nullfunfer concede a 90th-minute winner.

Bochum are pushing for promotion in the second tier, and a 5-0 hammering of recently-relegated Fortuna Düsseldorf showed what Thomas Reis' side are capable of. The Ruhr-based outfit have won five of their last nine away games, and unlike Mainz, they have a consistent scoring record. Bochum have scored 24 times across 13 league games, the third-best record in Bundesliga 2.

Mainz haven't won at home this season, their confidence has been smashed, and they have failed to score in their last three games. Sporting director Rouven Schröder has just been sacked, and there is uncertainty surrounding the coaching position. I'll back Bochum to qualify on the Sportsbook at 31/20, but you could also simply lay Mainz in the 90 minutes at evens.