Ten-man Hoffenheim maintain perfect record with win over spineless Bremen | OneFootball

TSG Hoffenheim won each of their first four games of the new year after their 2-0 success in Bremen. Horst Steffen is now in even more danger of losing his job ahead of the weekend’s game against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Bremen came into this one with an eight-game winless run while Hoffenheim held a perfect record in 2026, but the hosts had the first clear-cut chance. Playing alongside January signing Jovan Milosevic, Justin Njinmah was lively as usual as his shot narrowly missed the target inside the first five minutes.

Andrej Kramaric, who has scored and assisted four goals each in seven previous trips to Weserstadion, was the first to test Mio Backhaus. Bremen’s goalkeeper parried away his header from a corner-kick as Hoffenheim’s superior quality was on display for the rest of the first half.

It did take something extraordinary for them to go into the half-time break in front, though. Alexander Prass scored an absolute screamer from range in his 50th appearance for Hoffenheim.

The Austrian international hasn’t been a huge success story since rejoining his former coach Christian Ilzer from Sturm Graz, but he finally grabbed his first goal for Hoffenheim on a momentous day for him.Kramaric also had Hoffenheim’s first chance after the break with a half-volley. The first ten minutes of the second half had more talking points than the entire first half. First, Milosevic saw the first booking of the game after a dangerous play on Albian Hajdari.

Wouter Burger thought he was going to escape with a similar card for a harsh challenge on Cameron Puertas, but Frank Willenborg changed his initial verdict after consulting VAR. However, the technology couldn’t come to Bremen’s rescue a couple of minutes later.

In an all-action night for Hoffenheim midfielders, Grischa Prömel doubled the visitors’ lead as Bremen failed to properly clear Vladimír Coufal’s free-kick delivery. After a lengthy check, the goal stands as Prömel was not deemed to have fouled Milosevic before scoring his sixth goal of the season.

VAR continued to play a significant role in the game as Romano Schmid’s backheel goal was nullified for an offside call. There was more urgency in Bremen’s play in the last half-hour, but they were unable to crack Hoffenheim’s stingy defense. On the rare positive note for Bremen, Samuel Mbangula produced another solid performance off the bench.

Hoffenheim remained in third place after winning four games on the trot for the second time this season. Bremen are in 15th place, and all the bottom three teams have picked up more points than them since mid-November.

Christian Ilzer’s side will host Union Berlin on Saturday, while Bremen entertain Borussia Mönchengladbach with a hope of avoiding a tenth successive winless game in the Bundesliga.