The ramifications of last weekend’s two big games are likely to be felt in this round of Bundesliga action. Despite scoring thrice, Dortmund predictably lost at Leverkusen thanks to the innate defensive vulnerability in Lucien Favre’s team. Even with a home crowd behind them I am expecting their defence to have another torrid night on Friday as they welcome a Frankfurt side that finally looks like it has moved on from losing last season’s triple threat of Haller, Rebic and Jovic. Adi Hutter’s men are unbeaten since the restart, beating Leipzig once each in the league and cup and with Filip Kostic and Andre Silva in fine form, one can see the visitors getting something at Signal Iduna Park.
The feeling in Leverkusen meanwhile was that of a watershed victory, but Peter Bosz’s style has its own vulnerabilities and I wouldn’t be surprised if they came a cropper at Union, where the hosts have already had some memorable victories over Germany’s big guns in their first ever Bundesliga season. Moving on, the fact that Leipzig showed a different tactical side to their game at Bayern and more significantly, displayed tenacity and fortitude leads me to believe they may have just stopped the rot. I am expecting a comfortable home win for Julian Nagelsmann’s men against a Bremen side who look increasingly doomed with each passing round.
Amongst the other big guns, Bayern should manage to win at Cologne, though Markus Gisdol has completely revitalized the Billy Goats and its the kind of game where if the champions are complacent, things can get tricky. Gladbach have had some extended time off thanks to Storm Ciara which should enable Marco Rose’s early pacesetters to get back on the winning trail at Fortuna. Finally, in a weekend where I am not really backing the traditional favourites too much, I think Schalke could lose at Mainz considering the lull in form that David Wagner’s men are going through at the moment.
Dortmund 2 Frankfurt 2
Union 2 Leverkusen 1
Leipzig 3 Bremen 0
Paderborn 1 Hertha 1
Hoffenheim 2 Wolfsburg 1
Augsburg 1 Freiburg 1
Fortuna 1 Gladbach 3
Cologne 2 Bayern 3
Mainz 2 Schalke 1
Season Score - 17/35