RB Leipzig host Bayern Munich on Saturday in another clash that will see two teams who will be fighting at the top of the table come spring.
Both Leipzig and Bayern go into this game with wins last week in the league as well as midweek in the DFB Pokal. Last weekend, Leipzig comfortably beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-0 at Borussia Park before beating Wehen Wiesbaden 3-2 in the Pokal in a much closer affair.
Bayern’s games were a lot more comfortable. On Saturday, they beat Bochum 7-0 with Harry Kane scoring his first Bundesliga hat-trick before making the trip to Münster in midweek and beating Preußen Münster 4-0.
These teams have already met before this season in the DFL Super Cup, where Leipzig ran out 3-0 winners thanks to a hat-trick from Dani Olmo. This game highlighted some of the issues that Bayern currently have under Thomas Tuchel, such as a lack of control of midfield as well as their defence being rather weak. The game on Saturday will prove whether these issues have been addressed. What we have seen this season is Bayern struggle against teams of similar quality to them both against Leipzig and in their 2-2 draw against Bayer Leverkusen.
The key battle in this game will be Leipzig’s attack versus Bayern’s defence. Despite losing key players over the summer, Leipzig’s attack has seemingly become even stronger with added depth. While Olmo and Timo Werner will miss the game due to injury, Xavi Simons, Emil Forsberg, Loïs Openda and Benjamin Seško will cause issues for a Bayern defence that is constantly being tinkered with due to injuries.
Team News
RB Leipzig will miss Willi Orban, Werner and Olmo, with the game coming too soon for the Spaniard who is recovering from an injury picked up on international duty with Spain.
Apart from the absence of Manuel Neuer already, Bayern are likely to be without Matthijs de Ligt and Serge Gnabry, who broke his forearm in the game against Münster.
RB Leipzig predicted XI
Blaswich – Henrichs, Simakan, Lukeba, Raum – Schlager, Kampl – Simons, Forsberg – Openda, Seško
Bayern Munich predicted XI
Ulreich – Laimer, Upamecano, Kim Min-Jae, Davies – Kimmich, Goretzka – Sané, Musiala, Coman – Kane
GGFN | Jack Meenan
