Bayern Munich vs Mainz
Bayern Munich welcome Mainz 05 to the Allianz Arena in a seemingly straightforward Bundesliga task for the home side.
Fresh from completing their Champions League group stage campaign with a 100% record, courtesy of a 3-0 thumping of Barcelona, Bayern Munich will be looking to build on a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Borussia Dortmund last time out. In addition to extending their lead at the Bundesliga summit to four points, the ‘Bavarians’ have netted 3+ goals in nine (64.29%) of their 14 league fixtures this season, scoring a total of 45 (3.2 on average). Bayern came from a 2-0 HT deficit to beat Mainz 3-2 in their most recent top-flight H2H at home, meaning they’ve now found the net in 29 of their 30 Bundesliga encounters in Munich. In fact, the perennial Bundesliga champions have bagged more home league goals against Mainz (85) than against any other top-flight opposition.
Meanwhile, Mainz claimed a comprehensive 3-0 home win over Wolfsburg last time out, snapping a run of three Bundesliga matches without winning (D2, L1). Before shutting Wolfsburg out, they had failed to keep a clean sheet in eight Bundesliga games on the trot, highlighting the potential for another leaky weekend. It’s been ‘all or nothing’ for Mainz on the road this Bundesliga season (W2, L4), with each game won/lost seeing the winner on the day get on the scoresheet first. Despite their status of overwhelming pre-match outsiders, ‘Die Nullfünfer’ will be confident of finding the net here. They were one of just two sides – alongside Borussia Dortmund – to score 2+ goals in both last season’s top-flight matches against Bayern. By contrast, they’ve averaged just 1.00 goals per away league game this term.