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Borussia Mönchengladbach can ease their fans’ fears still further with victory at VfL Bochum 1848 in Friday’s Matchday curtain-raiser.
On Sunday, RB Leipzig are playing at home against Eintracht Frankfurt, as they try to secure Champions League football next season. Bayer 04 Leverkusen are in the box seat in third, and travel to Wolfsburg. And Erling Haaland should return to the Borussia Dortmund starting XI as they hunt down the record Bundesliga champions on Sunday evening against 1. FC Köln.
FC Bayern München will hope to snap their worst run of form this season and record a first win in three Bundesliga outings with 1. FC Union Berlin the visitors on Matchday 27 while Erling Haaland should return to the Borussia Dortmund starting XI as they hunt down the German champions.
Bayern top the table with just eight matches to play, but they saw their lead trimmed to seven points on Matchday 26 by Dortmund, who have a game in hand, as Julian Nagelsmann’s side were held by Hoffenheim to record their second successive draw. The good news is that Robert Lewandowski ended his two-game wait for a league goal to move on to 29 for the campaign, a tally he will be hoping to add to after netting twice in the 5-2 win over Union in the Hinrunde.
Dortmund closed the gap thanks to their victory over Arminia Bielefeld, a game in which top scorer Haaland returned from injury after a four-match absence. The trip to 1. FC Köln in the Matchday finale on Sunday evening could see the Norway international forward, who has 16 goals in 15 top-flight appearances, make his first start since Matchday 20.
While Dortmund have an eight-point cushion between themselves and the chasing pack, places three to six — Germany’s European qualifying spots — are currently determined by the finest of margins.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen are, for now, in the box seat in third, though last weekend’s derby defeat at home to Cologne means their grip on a podium place is precarious. They go to Wolfsburg on Sunday due to their midweek UEFA Europa League commitments, but with all of their rivals playing before them, Moussa Diaby & Co. could be down in sixth come kick-off at the Volkswagen Arena.
Fifth-placed SC Freiburg will certainly be confident of taking all three points as they head to bottom team SpVgg Greuther Fürth on Saturday afternoon; Christian Streich’s men are only ahead of sixth-placed TSG Hoffenheim on goal difference, though that could change with Sebastian Hoeneß’s team heading to second-frombottom Hertha Berlin, who have new coach Felix Magath in charge.
RB Leipzig’s 6-1 win over Fürth last weekend means Die Roten Bullen’s goal difference is the best of the quartet. Christopher Nkunku, who has 15 league goals and nine assists this season, will look to make it seven strikes in as many Bundesliga outings at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday to maintain his team’s grip on fourth place.
Following the postponement of their last two league games, 1. FSV Mainz 05 can give their hopes of securing European football for 2022/23 a boost with victory at home to an Arminia Bielefeld side hovering just two points above the bottom three. When Bielefeld kick off, the two teams either side of them, Augsburg and Stuttgart, will be going head-to-head in a game neither can afford to lose and both will be desperate to win.
Borussia Mönchengladbach, who are far from certain of top-flight survival despite last week’s defeat of Hertha, can ease their fans’ fears still further with victory at VfL Bochum 1848 in Friday’s Matchday curtain-raiser, though the hosts will harbour similar ambitions as they look nervously over their shoulders.
