With a full scale title race in the process there is plenty of action ahead of match day 13 in the Bundesliga.
RB Leipzig has taken on the Bundesliga by storm. A mere three draws separate Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side from absolute perfection while Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern Munich has the same three draws and a loss giving the debutantes a three point lead in the Bundesliga title race.
Why is Leipzig up there? It is because the last three summer transfer windows over 68 million Euros, and 42,500,000 this past summer. That’s a lot of packs of cigarettes but the thing is they have bought young players who are hungry for what is next to come and they have bought into Hasenhuttl’s tactics and find themselves leading the way to the title. This weekend’s match will be a strong test if they have what it takes or not.
On the other side of the table is a funny five team tussle to stay in the Bundesliga and take their share of the new TV rights monies. Three big fish are in trouble, Werder Bremen, HSV and Wolfsburg. Two are traditional teams who have been in the relegation fight for the last few seasons due to short term planning and not long term. So it comes as no surprise that each are in this trouble and the 2-2 draw last weekend hurt both sides relegation survival chances.
Wolfsburg is a different matter. They are not a traditional team but won a Bundesliga title in 2009 and DFB Pokal in 2015 when they finished second in the league. In the recent UEFA Champions League they fell in the quarterfinals to Real Madrid. This season has been coupled with an uninterested Julian Draxler, and word that funding from Volkswagen will be heavily cutting funding to the club. Should this both happen one can only think that the club Wolfsburg will fall a very long ways.
Matches of the Week
Hoffenheim is still one of the two clubs still unbeaten and yet Julian Naglesmann is seen as having turned around a floundering club who since has made a full revolution. The same full scale revolution has happened in Cologne. A mighty club that has experienced many relegations under Peter Stoger has been corrected. Now the club is aiming towards Europe and the rewards that it will bestow.
Borussia Monchengladbach has been questioned here on multiple occasions and yet there has still been the opportunity for different results. With only Europa League to await in the spring there needs to be a strengthening otherwise there will be no European football next season. For Borussia Dortmund Thomas Tuchel ripped into his players and have had a week to think. An interesting match to be sure.
For traditional topspiel there is a rather doozy of a match. Schalke 04 dropped their first five league matches but kept winning in the DFB Pokal and Europa League. The rest have turned as Schalke is now on a 12 match unbeaten run. This is their moment to prove that they are the grade as they visit Leipzig. A win for either side, RB or 04 means that they are to direct the fortunes of the Bundesliga.
Bundesliga on Fox
Friday starts us off with a good test of a match between Mainz 05 and Bayern Munch on FS1, the last time these two met Mainz came away winners.
Saturday early slate starts off with a trio of matches Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach on FS1, Bayer Leverkusen and SC Freiburg on FS2, and Wolfsburg and Hertha Berlin on Fox Soccer Plus.
Saturday topspiel has the massive tie of RB Leipzig hosting Schalke 04.
Sunday’s double header stars off with a relegation six pointer between HSV and Darmstadt. This is followed by FC Augsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt, both on FS1.
