Werder Bremen vs 1899 Hoffenheim prediction, team news and preview

Werder Bremen vs Hoffenheim: what the match decides

Werder Bremen and 1899 Hoffenheim meet in Bundesliga round 8 on Saturday 31 October 2026 at the Weser-Stadion. Bremen sit sixth after seven games, with three wins, three draws and one defeat for 12 points, a goal difference of +1 (15 scored, 14 conceded) and a place in the qualifying zone. Hoffenheim are tenth with 9 points, having won three and lost four, and their goal difference is level at 14 for and 14 against.

The table gives this game a clear shape. A Bremen win would open a six-point gap over Hoffenheim, while a Hoffenheim win would level the two clubs on 12 points. Bayern München lead the division on 17 points, so Bremen are five points off the top and Hoffenheim eight.

The main question is whether Bremen can turn a decent league record into a home win against a side that has been far sharper in recent weeks. Our analysis leans towards a tight, high-scoring game with a slight edge for the visitors, and the sections below set out why.

Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim recent form

Bremen's league form reads WDDWD, which is unbeaten in five Bundesliga games, though three of those were draws. Across all competitions their last five read LDDWL, with one win, two draws and two defeats, nine goals scored and 16 conceded. That concession figure of 3.2 per game is badly distorted by a 0-7 friendly defeat at Twente on 2 October. Take that game out and Bremen scored nine and conceded nine in four competitive games, which is 2.25 each way.

Those four games were a 2-2 draw at Borussia Dortmund, a 2-2 home draw with SC Paderborn 07, a 3-2 win at FSV Mainz 05 and a 2-3 DFB Pokal defeat at Dortmund on 27 October. Bremen have not kept a clean sheet in their last five, have failed to score once (the friendly), and have seen both teams score in four and more than 2.5 goals in all five. At the Weser-Stadion the recent sample is a single game, the 2-2 against Paderborn.

Hoffenheim arrive in better shape. Their last five all competitions read LWWWD: three wins, one draw and one defeat, with 11 goals scored (2.2 per game) and five conceded (1.0 per game), two clean sheets and no games without a goal. The results include a 2-1 win at Borussia Mönchengladbach, a 3-0 home win over Lyon in the UEFA Europa League and a 3-0 home win over Bayer Leverkusen, either side of a 2-3 Europa League home loss to Beşiktaş and a 1-1 DFB Pokal draw at Holstein Kiel on 28 October.

Their away record in that run is limited to two games, a win at Gladbach and the draw at Kiel. They scored three and conceded two there, so the sample is small but unbeaten. Hoffenheim also scored in every one of the five games.

Werder Bremen vs Hoffenheim team news

Bremen have the longer list. Six players are ruled out: F. Agu (calf injury), S. Alvero (calf injury), S. Musah (muscle injury), J. Njinmah (thigh injury), J. Stage (muscle injury) and K. Topp (knee injury). M. N'Diaye (groin injury) and N. Stark (muscle injury) are doubtful, so as many as eight players could be missing from the home squad.

That is a heavy load for a side that has played three matches in the past 15 days and conceded in every competitive game of the current run. Our data does not say which positions the players occupy in Bremen's set-up, so we cannot say where cover will be thinnest. Depth will still matter, particularly if the two doubtful players do not recover in time.

Hoffenheim have four players out: N. De Cat (knee injury), A. Hajdari (foot injury), P. Wimmer (thigh injury) and A. Prass, who is unavailable because of a red card. Bernardo is doubtful with an injury, and no further detail is given in our data.

Line-ups are not published in our data yet. They are confirmed about an hour before kick-off, and it is worth checking them for the status of N'Diaye, Stark and Bernardo, the three players whose availability is still open.

Storylines for Bremen and Hoffenheim

For Bremen the story is a good league start undercut by an uneven week. They hold sixth place and a qualifying position, but two of their last three league games finished 2-2, and the cup exit at Dortmund came after a 2-3 defeat on 27 October. The loss ended a run of three league games without defeat only in the cup, not in the Bundesliga, where they remain unbeaten across their last five.

Bremen also have a small recovery advantage on the calendar. Their last game was on Tuesday 27 October, while Hoffenheim played on Wednesday 28 October, so the hosts have an extra day before Saturday. With so many injuries, though, that day may count for little.

For Hoffenheim the narrative is momentum with a catch. They have won two of their last three Bundesliga matches' worth of results, including the 3-0 win over Leverkusen, and their league form reads WWLLW. Yet they have lost four of seven in the table and sit tenth, so this trip is a chance to turn good recent performances into a move up the standings.

The suspension of Prass adds a wrinkle to an otherwise settled run, and the Europa League defeat to Beşiktaş shows the side can still be beaten at home when the match opens up.

Where Werder Bremen vs Hoffenheim will be decided

The first battle is Bremen's open defence against Hoffenheim's attack. Bremen have conceded 14 goals in seven league games, an average of 2.0, and they have conceded at least two in three of their last four competitive matches. Hoffenheim have scored in all of their last five and average 2.2 goals per game over that spell. If the visitors keep that rate against a depleted back line, Bremen will have to score at least twice to take anything.

The second is Bremen's scoring against Hoffenheim's improved defence. Bremen average about 2.1 league goals per game (15 in seven) and have scored in four of their last five matches. Hoffenheim, however, have conceded only five in their last five games and kept two clean sheets, including the 3-0 against Leverkusen. Their league goals-against figure of 14 in seven suggests the tightness is recent and may not be permanent, so this is the match that tests it.

The third is tempo. Over 2.5 goals has landed in all five of Bremen's recent games and in four of Hoffenheim's last five. Add the last meeting's pattern in the head-to-head, where four of six games cleared that mark, and the likeliest shape is an open game in which the first goal and the response to it matter more than control of possession.

Werder Bremen vs Hoffenheim head-to-head

Hoffenheim have the clear historical edge. In the six Bundesliga meetings in our data, going back to October 2023, Hoffenheim have won five and Bremen one, with no draws. The meetings have produced 22 goals, which is 3.67 per game, with both teams scoring in four and more than 2.5 goals in four.

The most recent games all went the visitors' and Hoffenheim's way. Hoffenheim won 1-0 at home on 9 May 2026, and before that they won 2-0 at the Weser-Stadion on 27 January 2026 and 3-1 there on 16 February 2025. Bremen therefore lost their last three meetings, and the last two games in Bremen ended without a home goal in one and with only one in the other.

Bremen's only win in the sequence was a 4-3 victory at Hoffenheim on 29 September 2024, a game that shows how quickly these fixtures can open up. The others were 3-2 and 2-1 Hoffenheim wins in October 2023 and March 2024. Bremen have scored at least once in four of the six meetings, so they do find chances, but they have usually conceded more than they scored.

Head-to-head records need care, since squads change, but the pattern of Hoffenheim winning here recently is a real factor in our read.

Werder Bremen vs Hoffenheim prediction

Our lean is a narrow Hoffenheim edge in a game that is open and likely to produce goals. Three facts drive that. Hoffenheim's recent form is clearly stronger, with 2.2 goals scored and 1.0 conceded per game across their last five; Bremen are short of up to eight players; and Hoffenheim have won five of the last six meetings. Bremen's home form, a 2-2 draw in the only recent game, offers no real counterweight.

On goals, the lean is towards over 2.5. It has landed in all of Bremen's last five games, in four of Hoffenheim's last five and in four of the last six meetings, and both teams scored in four of those six. A final scoreline such as 2-1 or 2-2 would fit the pattern better than a low-scoring game, though Hoffenheim's two recent clean sheets mean a tighter 1-0 or 2-0 cannot be dismissed.

Several things could change the picture. If N'Diaye and Stark are fit, Bremen's back line is stronger than their recent concession rate suggests, and the extra day of rest could help in a game that turns on intensity. The absence of Prass, and any doubt over Bernardo, could blunt Hoffenheim. A draw is a real outcome for a Bremen side with three league draws already, so treat this as a lean rather than a certainty.

MATCH PULSE's three AI engines (GPT, Claude and Gemini) publish their independent analysis of the match before kick-off.

How to watch Werder Bremen vs Hoffenheim

The official broadcasters listed in our data are as follows. In Germany the match is carried by Sky Sport, DAZN, Sat.1 and RTL. In the United Kingdom the listed broadcasters are Sky Sports, BBC and Prime Video, and in Ireland they are Sky Sports and Prime Video.

In the United States the listed broadcasters are USA Network, Fandango, Telemundo, Universo and Peacock, and in Canada it is OneSoccer. Spain lists DAZN, Indonesia lists MNC and Vietnam lists TV360.

Across the Middle East and North Africa, Shahid and MBC Action are listed for the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, the Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.

Coverage can differ by region and by platform, so check which of the listed services shows this fixture where you live, and use their official apps for live viewing.

Only official rights holders are listed; availability can change. Watching through unofficial streams is unsafe and unfair to the clubs.

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