Bayern - Augsburg
Bayern is now well and truly fighting for an elusive treble. They must win to remain in the title race. Bayern is currently on an eight match winning streak. They have kept six clean sheets in those eight contests including in the last three matches. Fringe players are starting to come to the fore for Bayern as Ivica Olic struck twice against Marseille to send Bayern to the Champions League semi-finals.
Luiz Gustavo will be suspended for this derby as he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season last week. Augsburg is on a good run of form. They are undefeated in their last six matches which include three wins and three draws. In the reverse fixture, Bayern won a tight contest 1-2. Bayern in truth had been quite comfortable and had lead 0-2. Hajime Hosogai then scored making the last half hour very nervy for Bayern.
Anatoliy Tymoshchuk was sent off late in that match. Interestingly, both sides’ most recent loss came at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen. Bastian Schweinsteiger returns to the squad for Bayern after returning from a suspension in the Champions League against Marseille.
Prediction: Bayern 1-1 Augsburg
Wolfsburg - Dortmund
Dortmund plays a very difficult side in Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg absolutely thrashed Hertha Berlin 1-4 last week. Patrick Helmes struck twice. The striker’s return to form has amazed just about everyone. Even Joachim Loew is considering him for the national side now due to Miroslav Klose’s current injury. Wolfsburg is competing for the European spots currently. They are level on points with sixth placed Stuttgart.
Dortmund’s draw against Stuttgart last week is being hailed as one of the greatest ever games in the history of the Bundesliga. Dortmund allowed a comfortable lead to turn into a 2-3 deficit. The Ruhr club then struck twice to make the score 4-3 but Christian Gentner scored late in the match to level the scores at 4-4. Mario Goetze has returned to training for Dortmund.
Prediction: Wolfsburg 2-2 Dortmund
Mönchengladbach - Hertha
Gladbach is on a poor run of form currently. They lost once again last week, 2-1 to Hannover. They are ten points ahead of the fifth placed side in the table and are thus relatively comfortable. However, they are nine points behind second place. Gladbach can yet finish third as they sit only three points behind Schalke.
Hertha is seemingly set to be relegated once again. They sit in seventeenth spot, four points behind HSV in fifteenth. Even Otto Rehhagel seemingly has no solutions for the club from the capital. This is the perfect match for Gladbach to return to winning ways.
Prediction: Gladbach 2-0 Hertha
Schalke - Hannover
Both teams will come to the match filled with disappointment. They were Germany’s representatives in the Europa League this season. They both dropped out of the competition on Thursday. Schalke gave a good account of themselves in Bilbao and drew 2-2. However, their defending as a team was poor and Lars Unnerstall could have perhaps played a tad better than he did.
Hannover did not play as aggressively as they can against Atletico. The game was level at 1-1 but a late goal from Radamel Falcao in the 87th minute saw Hannover’s fairly tale run come to an end. This was Hannover’s first defeat at home in all competitions this season. Hannover has one of the worst away records in the Bundesliga with just two wins from 14 while Schalke has one of the best home records with 11 wins from 14 matches.
Prediction: Schalke 2-1 Hannover
