Bundesliga matchday 6 preview: Favourite opponent and a Borussenduell

It has been a hectic week of Bundesliga football. It all started last Friday when Hannover beat Hamburg 2-0 and continued with Bayern winning 3-0 at Schalke and Hoffenheim coming from 2-0 down to beat Mainz 3-2 and that was only two days ago.

The matchday kicks off in Munich when Bayern face their favourite opponent in Wolfsburg and the day when Robert Lewandowski scored five goals in nine minutes was exactly two years ago. It’s unlikely that he will ever do something like that again but looking at the latest results when these teams met it doesn’t look good for Wolfsburg who conceded four or more goals in four of the last five meetings between the teams. Wolfsburg might still have the new manager effect going for them but it is unlikely that they will take any points home to the VW-City.

Thanks to the “Englische Woche” we have a very good selection of 3:30 pm games on Saturday. Leipzig want to make amends for their loss at Augsburg when they face Frankfurt, Hoffenheim host Schalke, Bremen and Freiburg are both looking for their first win of the season. Hertha leave the capital to pay a visit to Mainz and lost but not least the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart sees Stuttgart play against Augsburg. The best game to watch should again be the one that involves Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim have shown that even without Rudy and Süle they still have what it needs to be a top four contender and Schalke have shown that they can play a more patient approach as well as a high-intensity pressing approach. Hoffenheim are favoured to win and Schalke haven’t been very good on the road in recent history but Mainz have shown that Hoffenheim can be very vulnerable.

The highlight of the day is the “Borussenduell” between Dortmund and Gladbach that kicks off at 6:30 pm. Dortmund have been the best team of the season so far both in terms of points but also in terms of underlying numbers. Gladbach have won four points from the first two games this week but Dortmund is another kettle of fish. A good game is to be expected because most games where Dortmund is one of the two teams are good games but like against Köln or Hamburg, anything but a Dortmund would be a surprise.

Sunday is election day in Germany but it’s also a day where two teams with very different stories play against each other at 3:30pm. One one side we have Hannover 96 who are in the top four after five games having won 11 points which is something no one expected prior to this season. Just like Köln losing all of their first five matches, rooting them to the bottom of the table. They really do need some points or otherwise Peter Stöger’s job might be subject to some external questioning in the coming weeks.

At the time Leverkusen – Hamburg kicks off, people will get the first results of the federal election. And results are what both teams need. Hamburg have lost three in a row after winning their first two games and Leverkusen have started even worse with just 4 points so far including losses against Mainz and Hertha. Just like Köln, Heiko Herrlich needs results. Neither of the two are likely to get sacked anytime soon but disgruntlement in the fans spreads fast and can lead to a toxic environment and that is something that should be prevented by any cost.