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Often unlucky for some, a bumper Matchday 13 promises plenty of action up and down a tightly packed Bundesliga table, with the top and bottom four all playing at the same time on Saturday.
FC Bayern München put their unbeaten start to the Bundesliga campaign on the line but will be without 14-goal division top scorer Harry Kane through injury for a classic David vs. Goliath encounter as 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 come to the Allianz Arena. Frank Schmidt’s visitors are winless in seven in the league but did claim a famous victory over Bayern last season, while this fixture has seen 20 goals across only three competitive meetings and promises to be a thriller once more.
Four points back from leaders Bayern, Eintracht Frankfurt remain the closest challengers in their search for a maiden Bundesliga title. The Eagles have won their last four games, spearheaded by Omar Marmoush, who finds himself only a goal shy of Kane and now with an opportunity to move ahead, starting at home to FC Augsburg, who are yet to win on their travels this season.
Defending champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen play at the same time as they look to close the seven-point gap to the summit with a home fixture against FC St. Pauli. The promoted side climbed out of the bottom three last week with a first Bundesliga victory at the Millerntor in 13 years, but their cushion remains perilously thin.
RB Leipzig in fourth are on a torrid run, with just one point from a possible 12 in November causing them to fall off the pace. With injuries causing issues from back to front, they make the trip north to take on 17th-placed Holstein Kiel, who themselves are at risk of being cut adrift if they don’t claim a second top-flight victory soon.
Saturday afternoon’s action is completed at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion where still winless VfL Bochum 1848 desperately need a result to start playing catch-up and turn around the second-worst start by a team to a Bundesliga season. SV Werder Bremen are the visitors on the back of a perfectly even record so far of four wins, four draws, and four defeats.
The evening’s Topspiel is all about Borussia as Borussia Mönchengladbach, who have won their last four home games, welcome Borussia Dortmund to Borussia-Park. BVB’s perfect home record this season ended with a Klassiker draw last weekend, but they really need to improve results on the road, where Die Schwarzgelben have managed just a solitary point from five fixtures.
The weekend’s opening fixture on Friday night sees VfB Stuttgart host 1. FC Union Berlin, with just one point separating the sides in mid-table. Stuttgart’s form remains inconsistent, to say the least, while talisman Deniz Undav remains on the sidelines. As for Union, home has mostly been their fortress this season, with just a single win on their travels for the division’s joint-lowest scorers coming back in October at Kiel.
Sunday kicks off with two of the Bundesliga’s most in-form teams meeting at the Volkswagen Arena. VfL Wolfsburg recorded a famous 5-1 victory in Leipzig last time out and are now five without defeat to climb up to eighth. A single place and point ahead, 1. FSV Mainz 05 are also unbeaten in five league fixtures and are knocking on the door of European qualification.
Matchday 13 concludes with a regional encounter in Sinsheim as SC Freiburg make the relatively short trip to TSG Hoffenheim. Julian Schuster’s men snapped a four-game winless run to beat Gladbach 3-1 last time out and take sixth place, while it’s been mixed fortunes so far for Christian Ilzer in charge of Hoffenheim, with a 4-3 win over Leipzig being followed by a 2-0 defeat in Mainz.
