By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Having survived a fright to beat newly promoted Holstein Kiel 4-3 last weekend, FC Bayern München are out to extend their superb winning run – and potentially their lead at the top of the Bundesliga.
With 14 games to go, six straight wins have helped Vincent Kompany’s Bayern move six points clear of defending Bundesliga champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen in their bid to return the Meisterschale to Munich. Eighth-placed SV Werder Bremen are up next in the Bavarian capital, the Green-Whites buoyed by their first three points of the new year (against 1. FSV Mainz 05) and an ultra-rare win at the Allianz Arena last January. Repeating the trick will take some doing, though, as will keeping out Harry Kane. The Bayern No.9 marked his 50th Bundesliga appearance with a brace last time out to make it a record 55 German top-flight goals and counting.
Another Bayern win would ramp up the pressure on Leverkusen, who face a tricky trip to VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday afternoon. While the 2023/24 double winners made it 18 league matches unbeaten with a 3-1 win over TSG 1899 Hoffenheim last weekend, they can take nothing for granted against Ralph Hasenhüttl’s top-six hopefuls, whose only defeat so far in 2025 was a 3-2 reverse at the hands of Bayern. Leverkusen goal-broker
Patrik Schick – one of Kane’s closest pursuers in the scoring charts with 14 strikes in his last 10 league outings alone – could hold the key.
Wolfsburg took a 1-1 draw last weekend at Eintracht Frankfurt, who remain in third place despite going three games without a win. Omar Marmoush has moved on, but Elye Wahi and Michy Batshuayi have come in to supplement the firepower of Hugo Ekitiké and fuel Eintracht’s top-four ambitions. The duo could make their debuts in Frankfurt colours when the Eagles travel to improving Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Saturday late game. The Foals are up in seventh and well-placed to mount a challenge for European qualification following a 2-1 win at VfB Stuttgart last time out.
Stuttgart are now a point outside the top four and face a difficult job in trying to gain ground when they visit Borussia Dortmund in what will be Niko Kovač’s first match as BVB head coach. The former Frankfurt, Bayern and Wolfsburg boss takes the reins, having watched his new employers break their duck for 2025 with a 2-1 win at FC Heidenheim 1846 that cut the gap on the top four to a surmountable four points.
Surprise package Mainz are sandwiched between Stuttgart and Gladbach. The 05ers’ European ambitions will be put to the test against FC Augsburg, who have won four and drawn one since the turn of the year to carve out a 12-point buffer on the relegation zone and perhaps even throw their hat into the ring for the top-six places.
SC Freiburg lead a congested group of teams in mid-table ahead of their meeting with Heidenheim. And they’ll be quietly confident of following up their win at VfL Bochum 1848 against a team suffering from a serious bout of second season syndrome. Eighth on debut last term, Frank Schmidt’s charges have dropped into the relegation play-off spot after a run of 13 defeats across their last 15 league games.
Heidenheim’s struggles are a real source of encouragement for the clubs immediately around them, including Hoffenheim and 1. FC Union Berlin, who are narrowly over the horizon in 15th and 14th, respectively. They meet in Sinsheim on Saturday, with a welcome cushion on the bottom three the prize for the victor.
On Sunday, there’s a relegation six-pointer between 17th-placed Kiel and rock-bottom Bochum, which has the potential to blow the basement battle wide open. Kiel could trade places with Heidenheim if results go their way, while Bochum are chasing the win that would lift them off the foot of the table for the first time since Matchday 6.
St. Pauli cap off the weekend’s action away to Leipzig. Unbeaten in three and currently seven points better off than Heidenheim, the Boys in Brown are making good progress in their efforts to avoid an immediate return to Bundesliga 2. For their part, hosts Leipzig haven’t won in four and recently blew a 3-0 lead to draw with Bochum, but can consolidate fourth place with a win.