How Bayern Munich Will Line Up Against Viktoria Plzen

Bayern Munich have a chance of edging closer to Group D dominance in the Champions League on Wednesday night with a home tie against Czech side Viktoria Plzen at the Allianz Arena. 

The German side go in to the game with an impressive 100 percent record in the group stages thus far, with victories over Manchester City and CSKA Moscow, and it will be confident of continuing that against group minnows Plzen.

Pep Guardiola's side go in to the game with a relatively strong squad, as some more prominent members of the squad regain fitness after long-term injuries and replace those who have just picked up new knocks. 

Defence is again where Pep will have to start from scratch and remould his side for this European clash. Jerome Boateng is, of course, still suspended after his straight red card against Manchester City, while Brazilian central defender Dante has been rendered out with an ankle problem, leaving the coach with no other options but Daniel Van Buyten and Jan Kirchhoff.

Fortunately, Bayern will have their two first choice full-backs in Rafinha and David Alaba available for the game. Rafinha is in perfect fitness, while Alaba missed Saturday's clash with Mainz to ensure there was no chance of fatigue. 

This then leaves Bayern with a back line of Rafinha, Van Buyten, Kirchhoff and David Alaba—not the most experienced or exquisite back line, but one that should still handle Pizen's best with relative ease. 

On the other hand, the Bavarian midfield is likely to prove a completely different story. Although Thiago Alcantara and Xherdan Shaqiri are both still injured, Guardiola does have a wealth of options to pick from ahead of this clash. 

Philipp Lahm is likely to keep his defensive midfield role, while Javi Martinez still works on his return to full match fitness, with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Toni Kroos in front of him in a predictable centre three. 

The trio have worked well over the past few weeks and have clearly benefited from some much needed consistency in Pep's first team, which the side as a whole have obviously enjoyed too. 

What we saw against Mainz over the weekend was the introduction of Mario Gotze late in the game, to some devastating effectiveness, as he came on for Rafinha and allowed Lahm to move back in to the right-back position. This allowed Kroos to move back in to the more defensive position and allow Gotze a more central attack at the opponents defence.

Similarly, we could see the introduction of Javi Martinez for the first time in the competition if Guardiola deems his fitness good enough for a spot on the bench. If Bayern can wrap up the victory relatively early on, don't be surprised if the Spaniard is given a much needed run out. 

In attack, Pep is also likely to stick with the status quo and go with a front three consisting of Franck Ribery, Mario Mandzukic and Arjen Robben. 

Mandzukic was reintroduced to the side following a brief spell out of the starting line up, where he scored a solitary goal against Mainz, and he is likely to keep his spot against a side who will similarly set up in a very defensive formation. 

Franck Ribery was left out of Saturday's squad all together and is likely to start on Wednesday evening with every intention of racking up a number of goal scoring opportunities alongside long-term partner in crime Arjen Robben.