It’s a top-of-the-table clash in the 3. Liga as Verl hosts Rot-Weiß Essen at the Sportclub Arena on Saturday, December 13. The home team is looking to strengthen their grip on the league standings with a win, and they have good reason to be confident given their recent form.

Verl has been in excellent shape, and their head-to-head record against Rot-Weiß Essen is quite impressive. They have won three of the last five meetings between these two sides, and drawn two. The most recent encounter was a 3-0 win for Verl back in March of this year.

Rot-Weiß Essen, on the other hand has struggled to get a positive result against Verl. Their best result in recent memory was a draw back in March of 2013 and also January of the same year and August of 2011 when they played friendlies games, but those were not competitive league matches.

In terms of recent outcomes in their respective campaigns the home side have been consistent notching up a string of positive results that make them favorites to win this tie. A look at the bookmaker odds - Verl are at 2.10 to take all three points, while their opponents are listed as high as a3.00 chance - also hints in this direction.

Given the above evidence it is tempting to follow suit and back Verl as they are predicted by algorithms simulating the game beforehand with a 45% win probability - that does make them an obvious choice to emerge victorious come Saturday. One should also consider going for a combo double chance of either Verl or the game to end in draw along with over 1.5 goals as that looks a well-sized bet given the lean of trades in this fixture and recent historical trends.