The Bundesliga returns this Friday night with Champions Bayern Munich hosting Schalke at the Allianz Arena.
After what had been a tough start to the campaign last season Bayern parted ways with Niko Kovac and his assistant Hans-Dieter Flick was given the job temporarily. After some good results the board decided to stick with him and, as we all know, the Bavarians went on to win the domestic double and the Champions League.
Can anyone stop them winning the Bundesliga title for a 31st time?
Probably not is the answer to that. Certainly, according to the current betting odds there aren’t many people out there in the public who believe the Bayern train can be halted.
Last season Robert Lewandowski had one of the best of his career. Thomas Muller, who previous manager Kovac didn’t seem to have much time for, came back into the team and flourished.
Serge Gnabry was incredible as well and we’ve yet to see the best from the likes of Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich – and, of course, Leroy Sane has just signed for them.
With the likes of those in the starting XI every week, it’s hard to see them failing to win the league.
Top Scorer: Erling Haaland
Shock horror, we’re not going for Robert Lewandowski. The odds are just too low for some value here and while Poland’s captain is certainly the favourite for a very good reason, we just prefer the look of Borussia Dortmund’s Haaland here.
He scored 13 in 15 league matches for BVB last season and netted 16 in 14 for RB Salzburg the season before. He’s also got three in two for Norway already this season.
He’s just a beast of a player and to think that he’s just 20 years old means we’re going to get another 13-15 years of greatness out of him.
Dortmund with Haaland leading the line will surely be Bayern’s main opponent this season and with all the traffic going through Haaland we reckon he’s going to have an incredible season for Dortmund.
Champions? No, we can’t see them shifting Bayern, but we can see Haaland scaring the living daylights out of anything that comes in front of him.
Bottom Two Finish: Stuttgart
Arminia Beilefeld are favourites here, but as Bundesliga II champions last season they obviously had a good record, scoring 65 goals and only conceding 30.
Compare this to Stuttgart who finished second, who scored 62 and conceded 41, and you can see why we’re going with Stuttgart here.
Yes, Thomas Hitzlsperger’s side only spent one season in the second tier, but they were also relegated in 2016, came back in 2017 and were relegated in 2019.
Between the promoted pair, Beilefeld are the better side and we can really see Stuttgart struggling particularly away from home this season unless they can shore up that defence.
Bayern Munich Multiple Trophies: Bundesliga & German Cup
Bayern have won the domestic double on 13 previous occasions. 10 of those doubles have come since the 2002/03 season.
There is just nobody who can stop them. Well, Dortmund, Leipzig or even Monchengladbach can beat them on their day, but if the draw falls Bayern’s way, and it usually does, we can see them extending that record to 14 domestic doubles this year.
* Prices on our snazzy new bet widget are bang up to date.
Bundesliga tips summary:
Top Scorer: Erling Haaland
Bottom Two Finish: Stuttgart
Bayern Munich Multiple Trophies: Bundesliga & German Cup
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