If it appeared a touch inevitable that Hull City’s skyrocketing start to the English Premiership would hit an asteroid belt with back-to-back fixtures against Chelsea and Manchester United, it certainly didn’t look that way with the Bundesliga’s brash new entrant. Or maybe it’s just the smugness of already knowing what happened that makes it seem so, for the newly promoted 1899 Hoffenheim, in second place behind Hamburg two weeks ago, now sits proud ly atop the German table having demolished Hamburg. Yes, Hamburg, and Bochum, 3-0 and 3-1 respectively, in the space of three days in late October. Hoffenheim then heralded the new month with a 4-1 victory against Karlsruhe.
Slipping stealthily into Hoffenheim’s slipstream is Bayer Leverkusen, which is in the midst of a bizarre sequence of 2-0 wins that currently stretches to four games. Crucial to Leverkusen’s progress has been the 24-year-old striker, Patrick Helmes, who moved from hometown club FC Koln at the start of this season. Helmes has scored eight goals in 11 appearances, and is second in the scoring charts behind Hoffenheim’s Vedad Ibisevic, who has 13.
Meanwhile Bayern Munich has put its early season horrors behind (watch this space) with four on-the-bounce wins, taking the Bavarian club to third, within four points of Hoffenheim. Miroslav Klose, Franck Ribery and Lukas Podolski scored a goal each in Bayern’s latest result, a 3-1 win over Arminia Bielefeld, which is placed third from the bottom of the league.
Comments
SHARE