Bundesliga Preview: Bayern Munich vs Hoffenheim, Key Stats, H2H, Line-ups, Prediction

Robert Lewandowski-Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich will face Hoffenheim this Saturday in the ninth round of the 2021/22 Bundesliga season.

Venue: Allianz Arena

Key Statistics

Bayern Munich have won 11 of their last 12 games in all competitions.

They have scored three or more goals in eleven out of their last 13 games.

Hoffenheim have not won back-to-back Bundesliga matches since January 2021. 

They have scored 17 and conceded eleven goals in the league this season.

Manuel Neuer could land his 300th Bundesliga victory here. The only other player in league history ever to break that landmark was Oliver Kahn (310).

Robert Lewandowski has beaten Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann more times (17) than any other goalkeeper in the Bundesliga.

Head to head

In 27 head-to-head meetings between the two sides, Bayern Munich hold the clear advantage. They have won 18 games, lost four and drawn five.

Latest Performances in all competitions

Bayern Munich: W-W-L-W-W

Hoffenheim: W-L-W-D-L

Bayern Munich 

Bayern Munich return to the Bundesliga to continue their title defence after beating Benfica 4-0 in their midweek Champions League group stage game.

The Bavarians have been sweeping teams aside this season and are not looking like they are going to be stopped.

They completely dominated Bayer Leverkusen in the top of the table clash last weekend, running out 5-1 winners to establish themselves as the top team in Germany.

They will look to continue from where they stopped last week and extend their winning run to three games.

Julian Nagelsmann’s side have already scored a new Bundesliga record of 29 goals this season and will be gunning to add a couple more against one of the manager’s former sides.

However, a shock 2-1 home loss to Eintracht Frankfurt last time out at the Allianz Arena brought an end to Bayern’s prior 30-match unbeaten run on home soil. 

They will fancy their chances of beginning a new such run in this game.

Meanwhile, boss Nagelsmann will miss this tie after testing positive of COVID-19 while experienced goalkeeper Sven Ulreich is also certain to miss. There are doubts over the availability of midfielder Leon Goretzka and Canadian left-back Alphonso Davies.

Possible Bayern Munich starting line-ups

Manuel Neuer, Josip Stanisic, Niklas Sule, Dayot Upamecano, Lucas Hernandez, Joshua Kimmich, Marcel Sabitzer, Thomas Muller, Serge Gnabry, Kingsley Coman, Robert Lewandowski.

Hoffenheim 

Hoffenheim’s last outing on the Bundesliga saw them thump Cologne 5-0 to keep themselves within touching distance of the top six.

The Baden-Württemberg based side are hoping to return to European football with a top-six finish this campaign and have begun the season with three wins in eight games (D3, L2). They head into game week 9 sitting in ninth place, two points behind 6th placed Wolfsburg. 

However, Sebastian Hoeneß’s side have been inconsistent this season and have not recorded two consecutive wins in the league since early this year.

They will be hoping that changes on Saturday and that they can claim a sizable scalp here against a Bayern team they’ve beaten just four times across 28 overall H2Hs (D5, L19).

To do that, they will have to improve upon their terrible recent away form, as they have now won just one of their last 12 away Bundesliga matches (D6, L5). 

Meanwhile, Ermin Bicakcic, midfielder Marco John, Pavel Kaderabek and centre-back Benjamin Hubner will all be absent for this game. There are doubts over the availability of Norway international Havard Nordtveit.

Possible Hoffenheim starting line-ups

Oliver Baumann, Stefan Posch, Florian Grillitsch, Kevin Akpoguma, Jacob Bruun Larsen, Diadie Samassekou, Sebastian Rudy, Robert Skov, Christoph Baumgartner, Ihlas Bebou, Andrej Kramaric.

Prediction

Bayern Munich’s form heading into this match makes it difficult to see anything other than a win for the home side.

But as Frankfurt proved a fortnight ago, Bayern’s weaknesses can be exploited if a team has the right tactics and organisation.