Bundesliga: Die Fohlen’s Big Test as Bayern Come to Town

Borussia Monchengladbach vs Bayern Munich

The current champions take on the 2020 hopefuls on Saturday in Monchengladbach, as Bayern aim to close the gap at the top of the Bundesliga.

Bundesliga: Monchengladbach vs FC Bayern is the clash of the weekend in Germany, not least because if the hosts can beat Die Bayern they will hold on to the top spot and extend their lead over the champions to a chunky seven points.

In the most open Bundesliga race in years, Monchengladbach are leading the way in style. Head coach Marco Rose has put together an attacking group, third top scorers in the league and playing football which is easy on the eye. But on Saturday they face the hottest striker in European football when Robert Lewandowski lines up for the Bavarians.

Keep the Pole quiet and Di Fohlen has half a chance, and they’ll be roared on by a passionate 54,000 crowd at the Borussia Park Stadium.

They may lead the league at the moment, but the hosts know what a dangerous foe Bayern is. They chased down runaway leaders Borussia Dortmund with ruthless efficiency last season, and are hot favourites to make it a record eight titles on the bounce.

The very latest SBOBET odds have FC Bayern at 1.35 to win the Bundesliga, while Die Fohlen are fourth favourites at 12.00 behind both Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig.

Talking Points

Monchengladbach firing on four cylinders

This is a big week for Monchengladbach, following a tough couple of games after the international break. They lost to mid-table side FC Union Berlin before scrapping to a 0-1 win against Austrian side RZ Pellets WAC in the Europa League. But Die Fohlen have show resilience, following that up with an impressive 4-2 win over Europe chasing Freiburg.

Borussia Monchengladbach have won their last five Bundesliga matches at home with 18 goals — Breel Embolo celebrates after scoring a brace against SC Freiburg

There isn’t a stand-out player in this team, rather a talented group of individuals who link up well to good effect. Marcus Thuram is the top scorer with six goals and five assists, while Patrick Herrmann has five goals and three assists and Swiss striker Breel Embolo has five goals and two assists. All three were on target against Freiburg, with France striker Alassane Plea missing out and staying on four goals.

Rose can rely on at least one of his creative players to shine, as well as having supreme confidence in his goalkeeper, Swiss international stopper Yann Sommer.

Lewandowski is on fire

While Die Fohlen don’t rely on any one player, FC Bayern’s talisman is at it again, breaking records and scoring for fun. Robert Lewandowski became the first player in Bundesliga history to score in the first 11 match-days in a season when he was on target in FC Bayern’s 4-0 win over Borussia Dortmund. He’s now bagged 16 goals in 13 league games and a healthy smattering in cup competitions too!

Without Lewandowski’s goals Bayern would be further adrift for sure, but this is by no means a one man attack. Serge Gnabry has four league goals and there are undoubtedly more to come as the young striker has shown in his hot streak for Germany.

Hansi Flick’s honeymoon over

Interim head coach Hans-Dieter Flick took over after the departure of Niko Kovac and his impact was nothing short of spectacular. He kicked off with a 2-0 Champions League win over Olympiacos and back-to-back 4-0 victories over Borussia Dortmund and Fortuna Dusseldorf.

Die Bayern then headed to Belgrade to hammer Red Star 0-6, with Lewandowski helping himself to four goals. But it all came to an end last week, much to the annoyance of Flick, with a 1-2 home defeat to Bayer Leverkusen.

I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing for Die Fohlen!

History

In the 55 head to head meetings between these two giants, the Monchengladbach vs FC Bayern results have favoured Die Bayern who have won twice as many clashes as Monchengladbach, 26 to 13, while there have been 16 draws.

When the two sides met in March, Bayern hammered Die Fohlen 1-5 with Lewandowski scoring two and Serge Gnabry was also on target.

The stunning statistic from that game was that while Die Fohlen had two shots on target, Bayern racked up 14!

But Monchengladbach have been superb at home this season, winning the last six on their home turf.