The Big Ones
There are many big battles on this week, including one between Thomas Schaaf’s Bremen and lackadaisical Schalke. Schalke was anything but careless last week though as they beat Hoffenheim 3-0. The goals came late but the goal saw them remain in fourth place. They play a Bremen side which picked up a draw against a good Mainz side.
Schalke’s main rivals for the fourth spot, Eintracht Frankfurt, finally registered a win last week. The tough 2-3 win over Greuther Fürth came just in time for a meeting with Bayern. Philipp Lahm might become the next Bayern captain in a long line of Bayern captains to lift the title on Saturday. Of course the medals and the trophy will not be presented until Match-day 34. Will butterflies in the stomach prevent Bayern from winning the title this weekend?
The only team to have defeated Bayern in the league this season, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, takes on a Wolfsburg side which only managed to pick up a point at home against Nürnberg. Wolfsburg’s home record is awful this season of course. They will be more than happy to take on Bayer 04 at the Bay Arena. Leverkusen hammered Fortuna 1-4 last week.
Relegation Battles
Leverkusen lost both their matches to Borussia Dortmund this season. Dortmund takes on Augsburg this week in the knowledge that their fate now lies in the hands of Bayern. Last season, the situation was reversed. BVB will want to hold on to second place ahead of Leverkusen. Augsburg’s loss to Hannover means that they remain in trouble. BVB this week will perhaps be tired from midweek exertions in Spain. Augsburg must try to take advantage of this.
BVB has lost a lot of unnecessary points this season including two against Fortuna Düsseldorf. Düsseldorf is not guaranteed safety yet. They seem to move one step back after each two steps forward in the fight for survival. Their opponent this weekend is another team fighting madly for survival, Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim sacked general manager Andreas Müller and coach Marco Kurz during the course of the week. Markus Gisdol is the new coach.
One of Hoffenheim’s fiercest rivals, VfB Stuttgart is not completely safe yet surprisingly. Their opponent this weekend is tenth placed Hannover. Hannover is involved in the battle for the European spots. They are only five points behind fourth placed Schalke. Stuttgart, after fighting physically, and later with ten men, fell 1-2 to BVB last weekend.
Battles for the European Spots
Mainz 05 is still in the hunt for the final Champions League spot. Their opponent this week is a Nürnberg side which, rather surprisingly, with a bit of consistency and luck, could find themselves battling for a Europa League berth. Nürnberg might win this one if Mainz does not press incessantly.
Sitting on the same number of points as Mainz, SC Freiburg takes on Hamburger SV. Hamburg will have to recover from last week’s embarrassment at the hands of Bayern. Thorsten Fink’s side could still earn a European berth, despite the damage Bayern did to the all important goal difference of the side.
Borussia Mönchengladbach is set to take on relegation favorites Greuther Fürth. This is a great chance for Gladbach to take the full compliment of points. However, Fürth has recently taken some points rather unexpectedly and came close to taking one off Frankfurt last week.
Finally, is this potentially the week in which the curtains will come down on the Bundesliga title race? Let us hear your thoughts!
