Bundesliga Preview: Can Wolfsburg Inflict Second Successive Defeat for Bayern?

Schalke vs Köln

Schalke's poor form last season seems to have continued into this season as well after the club lost their opening fixture to Stuttgart last weekend. The heavy 3-0 defeat dampens the spirit of fans who might have been hoping for a period of stability from this season. However, it is never too late given that only one game has been played so far.

Schalke will be facing Köln, who also suffered a massive 3-0 defeat on the opening day of the season against Wolfsburg. Both teams now find themselves rooted down to the bottom of the table, although a team's position in the table at this stage of the season is largely insignificant.

Schalke will be hoping for something spectacular from Raul who has been in quite good nick against Köln. Schalke manager Ralf Rangnick, though, will be without Jefferson Farfan, Levan Kenia, Christoph Moritz, Tim Hoogland and Sergio Escudero.

This quite substantial injury list is likely to tie his hands, although the home advantage is most likely to help Schalke. Köln too are suffering from injuries to the likes of Youssef Mohamad and Petit, while striker Milivoje Novakovic is suspended for the game.

Hamburger vs Hertha

Hamburg's desire to finally snap the winless streak did not materialise against Borussia Dortmund on the opening day of the Bundesliga campaign, but they will have a better opportunity against Hertha Berlin. Even this looks unlikely given the form and the history of both teams; Hamburg have not had a single victory in their last seven league matches, while Hertha Berlin have not lost an away league match for more than six months. Home form was the major factor that disrupted Hamburg's season last time around and manager Michael Oenning will want to solely focus on improving this in order to achieve the club's targets this season.

Hamburger once again showed that friendlies do not provide a clear picture of the status of the team, as they performed relatively well in the preseason so far. Tesche's goal against Borussia Dortmund gave an inaccurate picture of the team's state, although Michael Oenning did have a fair amount of injuries to deal with.

Hertha Berlin, on the other hand, had some decent possession against Nurnberg, but couldn't convert them into opportunities. Paolo Guerrero will still be absent for Hamburg, while Hertha Berlin are still without Nico Schulz, Roman Hubnik, and Marco Djuricin.

Hoffenheim vs Borussia Dortmund

The defending Champions Borussia Dortmund started off their defence of the title with a victory over Hamburg last weekend, but it is maintaining a decent run of form that counts the most at the end of the season. Hence, they are likely to be extra cautious against Hoffenheim especially given that they were the one team to deny them a victory last season.

Going by the results of the recent seasons, Hoffenheim also do quite well against the Champions. However, they are facing injury crisis right now with key players like Manuel Gulde, Andreas Ibertsberger, Tobias Weis, Boris Vukcevic and Vedad Ibisevic already ruled out of the game.

Even though Borussia Dortmund have also a fair bit of injuries, their injury situation is much better than that of Hoffenheim. Mario Gotze has been in excellent form right to the pre-season and he was instrumental in Dortmund's win over Hamburg last weekend. However, it is highly unlikely that Hoffenheim will be paying any special attention for the midfielder.

Despite having a lot of possession and chances against Hannover, Hoffenheim lost the match. Hence, one should not read too much into the defeat against Hannover, as Hoffenheim are very much capable of causing an upset against
Borussia Dortmund.

Wolfsburg vs Bayern Munchen

One of the most surprising results of last weekend was the opening day defeat for Bayern Munich. Bayern Munich suffered the embarrassment 1-0 home defeat to Borussia Mönchengladbach, which was their first opening day defeat in the last 10 seasons.

This astonishing statistic could get even worse for Bayern Munich should they suffer another defeat at the hands of Wolfsburg. It would represent Bayern's worst start to a season, as they have never lost two opening matches in succession.

Wolfsburg come prepared to exactly achieve that after they secured a scintillating victory against Koln last weekend, although they were dominated by Koln in parts of the pitch. However, Wolfsburg performed where it mattered and came through with a 3-0 victory that puts them on the perfect path at the start of the season.

Felix Magath has a very favourable situation in terms of injuries, with most of his team available fit and ready to face Bayern Munich. Even though Arjen Robben's availability for the game is doubtful, Franck Ribery is fit for Bayern Munich. Breno is the only other absentee for Bayern Munich.


Leverkusen vs Werder Bremen

The extra time exertions against Dynamo Dresden in the DFP Pokal Cup came to haunt Bayern Leverkusen on the opening day against Mainz. The 2-0 defeat now puts incredible strain on the team given that they face a slightly tough run-in over the next five fixtures.

It starts with the match against Werder Bremen, who got the job done against Kaiserslautern last weekend. The 2-0 victory was flattering Kaiserslautern, as Werder Bremen dominated throughout the match. Superstitious fans will note that Robin Dutt has lost every single match he has faced against Werder Bremen as a manager.

Bernd Leno is likely to get a run out in the first team after both first-team goalkeeper and his deputy are injured. Meanwhile, Werder Bremen are suffering from quite a lot of injuries, with the likes of Naldo, Leon-Aderemi Balogun, Mikael Silvestre, Sebastian Boenisch, Ozkan Yildirim, Tim Borowski and Denni Avdic likely to miss the match.

Bayern Leverkusen will be looking to get some points on the board before nervousness starts to kick in given the nature of the upcoming fixtures for the Aspirins. Even though they did not create lots of chances against Mainz, they at least had decent possession, which can be converted into victories if they use it well against Werder Bremen.