Necessity is the mother of invention. Ten-time defending Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich have responded to losing longtime top scorer Robert Lewandowski by bludgeoning eleven goals in their first two competitive fixtures this season. Julian Nagelsmann’s Bavarians have opponents shivering with fear after putting six past Frankfurt on the league’s opening weekend just days after obliterating RB Leipzig 5-3 in the German Super Cup. The Bavarian juggernauts switch their considerable firepower to Wolfsburg in Sunday’s late kick off.
Teenage upstart Jamal Musiala has been among the goals in both fixtures along with summer signing Sadio Mane and Serge Gnarby. In fact, five different scorers have been on target in both their games, cementing Bayern Munich as odds on favourites to win their eleventh consecutive league title. Bayern’s status as runaway favourites has been further underlined by the misfortunes of perennial bridesmaids Borussia Dortmund, runners up in six of the last ten seasons.
Edin Terzic’s Black and Yellows scrapped to a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen on match-day one, only to lose newly signed striker Karim Adeyemi to injury. The loss of Adeyemi and Sebastian Haller to testicular cancer, has forced Terzic to recruit 34-year-old veteran goal grabber Anthony Modeste from Koln. The Frenchman, plunderer of twenty goals last season, could go straight into the starting line up for Friday night’s trip to Christian Streich’s well drilled Freiburg, emphatic 4-0 winners away to Augsburg last weekend.
Goals galore can be expected at the Bay Arena where last season’s third top scorer Patrick Schick, Moussa Diaby and Adam Hlozek are all itching to break their scoring duck against an Augsburg side not noted for their defensive frugality. In Leipzig, the returning Timo Werner, signed from Chelsea for £25m on Wednesday after agreeing a massive pay cut, should play a part when Domenico Todesco’s RB Leipzig host Koln seeking their first win of the campaign.
The rest of the fixtures see newly promoted Werder Bremen try to build up on their impressive 2-2 draw with Wolfsburg when they host Stuttgart, fellow newcomers Schalke at home to Daniel Farke’s dangerous Gladbach and Hertha Berlin welcome an Eintracht Frankfurt side still smarting from Wednesday’s Uefa Super Cup loss to Real Madrid in Helsinki, Finland.
FRIDAY
Freiburg v Borussia Dortmund
SATURDAY
Bayer Leverkusen v Augsburg
Hertha Berlin v Eintracht Frankfurt
RB Leipzig v Koln,
Werder Bremen v Stuttgart,
Hoffenheim v Bochum,
Schalke v Gladbach
SUNDAY
Mainz v Union Berlin
Bayern Munich v Wolfsburg