By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
One of the standout clashes of the weekend is unbeaten RB Leipzig – who are level on points with leaders FC Bayern München – hosting SC Freiburg, who have enjoyed a sensational start of their own under new coach Julian Schuster.
The club from the Black Forest took their fifth win out of seven with a 3-1 success over FC Augsburg last weekend to match their record start to a season – a remarkable feat given Schuster has been following in the huge footsteps of long-serving legendary coach Christian Streich.
Freiburg will hope to become the first German side to beat Leipzig this season. Although Marco Rose’s charges are showing signs of a formidable defence – conceding only two goals this season – they do have a tough UEFA Champions League tie against Liverpool on Wednesday to recover from.
Leipzig will likely need a result to keep pace with Bayern at the top of the table, with the Bavarians travelling to basement side VfL Bochum 1848 on Sunday. Vincent Kompany’s outfit will be expected to win that, with Harry Kane’s hat-trick in a 4-0 win over VfB Stuttgart showing them to be in supreme form again.
Bochum did win their most recent home encounter with Bayern 3-2 back in February, but they come into this game under new management after Peter Zeidler was dismissed on Sunday. Markus Feldhoff and Murat Ural are taking interim charge as the Ruhr club continue to hunt their first win of the season.
Holstein Kiel are the one other side yet to register a win this season, and the newly promoted outfit from the Baltic coast face a tough trip on Saturday to Stuttgart, who will want to show a response in front of their own fans after their disappointing night in Munich.
Champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen are very much in the mix at the top of the pack with a three-point gap to close on Bayern and Leipzig. They visit an SV Werder Bremen outfit who are eighth in the table after a good start, but have remarkably taken 10 of their 11 points in the current campaign away from home.
Fifth-placed 1. FC Union Berlin – who are level on points with Leverkusen – have no such home issues, with a 100 percent record in their three encounters to date at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei, which is soon set to be expanded. They face a difficult task in retaining that flawless home form, however, when sixth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt visit on Sunday. Frankfurt’s flying forward Omar Marmoush remains the Bundesliga’s top goalscorer with nine goals already, despite their 2-1 loss in Leverkusen last time around.
Hot on the heels of both Union and Frankfurt are Borussia Dortmund in seventh, who travel to Augsburg on Saturday afternoon. Dortmund narrowly beat FC St. Pauli 2-1 last matchday, and the newly promoted Hamburg cult club will hope to register their first win in three as they host VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.
The matchday opener on Friday will be a true midtable tussle between 1. FSV Mainz 05 – in 12th with eight points – and Borussia Mönchengladbach, who are both a position and a point ahead. The weekend is then rounded off with an interesting clash between two of the Bundesliga’s European representatives, as 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 and TSG Hoffenheim face off on the back of Thursday’s respective UEFA Conference League and UEFA Europa
League away fixtures in Cyprus and Portugal.