Bayern Munich will be looking to make it seven straight wins in all competitions when they continue their Bundesliga campaign at home to Wolfsburg on Friday night.
The German champions are currently top of the Bundesliga, nine points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund, while Wolfsburg occupy 11th with 20 points to show from their opening 16 games.
Match preview
Bayern rounded off a perfect Champions League group-stage campaign with a dominant 3-0 victory over Barcelona earlier this month, while they have since put another two more Bundesliga wins on the board, beating Mainz 2-1 on December 11 before thumping Stuttgart 5-0 on Tuesday night.
Serge Gnabry hit a treble in a stunning performance at Mercedes-Benz Arena, while Robert Lewandowski scored twice, as Julian Nagelsmann's side stretched their lead at the top of the table to nine points.
Second-placed Dortmund now have a game in hand over the leaders, but Bayern are on a roll at the moment, winning each of their last four in the league against Arminia Bielefeld, Dortmund, Mainz and Stuttgart since losing 2-1 at Augsburg on November 19.
Der FCB have not been perfect in the Bundesliga this season, but they sit comfortably top of the pile, and it is going to take an incredible effort for another team to prevent them from winning a 10th league title in a row.
Bayern will also fancy their chances of making a strong challenge for the Champions League this season, and they received a favourable draw in the round of 16, being paired with Austrian outfit RB Salzburg.
Wolfsburg, meanwhile, will enter the contest off the back of a 3-2 home defeat to FC Koln on Tuesday, with Anthony Modeste snatching all three points for the visitors in the final exchanges.
Florian Kohfeldt's side are actually on a run of six straight defeats in all competitions, while they have not been victorious since a 1-0 win over Augsburg in the Bundesliga at the start of November.
Four straight league defeats to Dortmund, Mainz, Stuttgart and Koln have seen them slide down the table into 11th position, and they are only four points above 16th-placed Augsburg, who have a game in hand.
Wolfsburg also saw their Champions League group-stage campaign end in disappointment, losing their last two matches against Sevilla and Lille to finish bottom of Group G on five points.
The Wolves finished fourth in the Bundesliga last season, impressively only losing seven of their 34 matches, but they have already suffered eight league defeats this term and look short of being a top-four candidate at this stage of the campaign.
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- D
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
Team News
Bayern will again be without the services of Corentin Tolisso, Leon Goretzka, Josip Stanisic, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Joshua Kimmich for Friday's affair.
Meanwhile, Kingsley Coman was forced off the field in the 27th minute of the clash with Stuttgart after suffering a hamstring problem, and the attacker could be replaced in the starting XI by Leroy Sane.
There are unlikely to be any alterations elsewhere, though, with Thomas Muller once again supporting Lewandowski from the number 10 position, while Marc Roca should earn another start in midfield.
As for Wolfsburg, Lukas Nmecha, Luca Waldschmidt, Paulo Otavio, Admir Mehmedi, Xaver Schlager and William will be absent for this match.
Jerome Roussillon, meanwhile, is suspended due to the late booking that he picked up against Koln, so there will have to be a change at the back, with John Brooks in line to start.
Head coach Kohfeldt is expected to resist the temptation to shuffle his pack from the defeat to Koln, but Renato Steffen is expected to come into the attack, while Yannick Gerhardt is also pushing to start.
Bayern Munich possible starting lineup:
Neuer; Pavard, Sule, Hernandez, Davies; Roca, Musiala; Gnabry, Muller, Sane; Lewandowski
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Casteels; Baku, Lacroix, Bornauw, Brooks; Vranckx, Arnold; F Nmecha, Steffen, Lukebakio; Weghorst
We say: Bayern Munich 3-0 Wolfsburg
Facing Bayern off the back of six straight defeats is far from ideal for Wolfsburg, and we are finding it incredibly difficult to predict anything other than a comfortable victory for the reigning champions, who should have too much in the final third despite their absentees.
Top tip
body check tags ::
Previews by email
