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Bundesliga leaders FC Bayern München travel to second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen in a headline fixture riddled with subplots on Matchday 8.
Will Robert Lewandowski end his two-game mini goal drought on the day he moves up to second above Naldo, and behind only former teammate Claudio Pizarro, on the Bundesliga’s list of all-time foreign appearance-makers on 358? Can teenager Florian Wirtz continue his run of scoring, assisting, or both in every league game so far this season? Will Bayern stretch their European record 82match scoring record? If they don’t, Gerardo Seoane’s Leverkusen might just end a bumper weekend at the summit.
Bayern’s shock 2-1 home loss to Eintracht Frankfurt prior to the October international break, coupled with Leverkusen’s 4-0 rout of DSC Arminia Bielefeld, means only goal difference separates the top two.
Borussia Dortmund are a point further back in third, ahead of their meeting with Bo Svensson’s 1. FSV Mainz 05. Statistically, Svensson is outperforming ex-BVB coaches Jürgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel in the Mainz dugout, despite a run of three without a win. The Dane will have to find a way to shut out the returning Erling Haaland – the division’s top dog for goals and assists after seven matches with 11 – if he’s to break the cycle at the Signal Iduna Park, where Die Schwarzgelben have won their last eight in the Bundesliga.
Surprise package SC Freiburg are level on points with Dortmund. The unbeaten Breisgauer are enjoying their best-ever start to a Bundesliga season ahead of the inauguration of their new 34,700-capacity stadium. Jesse Marsch’s RB Leipzig are the visitors, looking to build on back-to-back wins over Hertha Berlin and VfL Bochum. Christopher Nkunku teases party-pooper potential, the Frenchman having scored nine times in 10 competitive appearances this term.
Elsewhere, Borussia Mönchengladbach host VfB Stuttgart with designs on their own three-match winning streak. Mark van Bommel’s VfL Wolfsburg, beaten 3-1 by the Foals two weeks ago, travel to 1. FC Union Berlin on the back of a two-game losing streak. Union’s city rivals Hertha Berlin are away to Bayern-slaying Frankfurt with whom Kevin-Prince Boateng won the 2017/18 DFB Cup.
It’s all going on at the foot of the standings, too. Promoted duo SpVgg Greuther Fürth and VfL Bochum renew rivalries on Saturday afternoon, while FC Augsburg host Arminia Bielefeld in Matchday 8’s closing fixture. Fürth haven’t won in the Bundesliga since 4 May 2013, Bochum are without a goal in 300 minutes, Augsburg were desperately unlucky to lose in Dortmund last time out and Bielefeld – like rock-bottom Fürth – are winless this season.
Before all that, high-flying 1. FC Köln kick off the action at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim’s
PreZero Arena in the Friday game. It promises to be a special occasion for Anthony Modeste, who netted 23 goals in 62 competitive appearances for the Sinsheim club between 2013/14 and 2014/15. Going through something of a renaissance in his fourth stint at Cologne, the 33-year-old is behind only Hoffenheim’s Andrej Kramaric and Lewandowski for shots on goal and has already netted four times across the first seven matchdays to propel the Billy Goats up to seventh in the standings.
