Bundesliga, one of the most interesting matches is between Union Berlin and Heidenheim. Fat chances for Werder Bremen and Stuttgart.
There are five matches this time around on offer on Saturday afternoon in the Bundesliga. The highlight match is surely the one between Bayern Munich and Leipzig, with Thomas Tuchel’s Bavarians – by the way, at the end of the year the former Chelsea and PSG coach’s and Bayern’s roads will part – called upon to turn over a new leaf after the three consecutive defeats between the league and Champions League.
In contrast, among the day’s most interesting nonleague challenges is the one that will pit Union Berlin and Heidenheim against each other. The Capitols seem to have found themselves again after a disastrous first part of the season that caused the inevitable separation from their longtime coach Urs Fischer. The change was necessary, however, since with Croatian Nenad Bjelica the Union managed to come out of a situation that was becoming complicated. The red-and-whites are coming off two wins in a row (Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim), keeping their goal unbeaten on both occasions: such continuity of performance had never been seen so far.
Six points that in each case allowed Gosens and his teammates to move away from the red zone, now nine points away. They have three more from newly promoted Heidenheim, who last Saturday made the league’s crusher, Bayer Leverkusen (1-2), sweat. Before the defeat to the leader, Frank Schmidt’s men had racked up an impressive eight useful results in a row. In the German capital, therefore, there are preconditions to witness a very balanced match, in which both in all likelihood will score.
The predictions on the other matches
Who needs to get back to winning ways as soon as possible, however, is Borussia Monchengladbach. Gerardo Seoane’s Fohlen continue to postpone their appointment with three points for more than a month and in the last five days have barely collected two draws, slipping to fourth-last place.
In the match against Bochum, effectively a direct clash, Borussia will try to take advantage of the home factor: in their stadium the Fohlen have won 15 of their 22 total points. Bochum comes from the heroic 3-2 success with Bayern Munich but is more vulnerable on the road: a positive result for the hosts is not to be ruled out, and neither should there be a shortage of goals, since we are talking about two teams that are not impeccable in the non-possession phase of the ball. They have moved closer to the Europe zone Werder Bremen, thanks to an excellent performance in the new year: the green-and-whites, who have four victories in the last five days, are favored against the tail-end Darmstadt. Fifth consecutive success in the sights instead for third-ranked Stuttgart: the Swabians can extend their winning streak in their home match with third-last-place Cologne.
Bundesliga: possible winners
Heidenheim or draw (in Union Berlin-Heidenheim).
Borussia Monchengladbach or draw (in Borussia Monchengladbach-Bochum)
Stuttgart (in Stuttgart-Cologne)
The match of at least one goal per team
Union Berlin-Heidenheim
Bundesliga: the matches with at least three total goals
Borussia Monchengladbach-Bochum
Werder Bremen-Darmstadt