Injury-hit Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich start their title defence against top 4 hopefuls Wolfsburg, a team they have beaten in last nine matches in all competitions.

Having won another league title in style, the Bavarians are again ranked as hot favourites to remain in pole position, even if they have experienced all sorts of problems during pre-season.

New signings Robert Lewandowski, Pepe Reina, Juan Bernat and Sebastian Rode have all slotted in well, but most key men have missed a big chunk of the pre-season training due to their participating at the 2014 World Cup.

And with few more important footballers picking up injuries along the way, the under-strength side were easily defeated by arch rivals Borussia Dortmund in the German Super Cup match.

The game also saw Javi Martinez suffer a knee ligament injury that will see him miss at least six months of action.

But, despite all the problems, Bayern are still available at 1.25 (1/4) to win their opening Bundesliga game, with Robert Lewandowski 1.62 (5/8) to score anytime.

Jerome Boateng misses out through suspension, whilst Javi Martinez, Rafinha, Franck Ribery, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thiago Alcantara and Mitchell Weiser are out injured.

Probable starting line-up (3-4-2-1): Neuer – Badstuber, Dante, Alaba – Shaqiri, Lahm, Hojbjerg, Bernat – Muller, Gotze – Lewandowski.

Talented coach Dieter Hecking has really revived Wolfsburg after taking over the reigns from Felix Magath and his side narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification last term.

While the club once again managed to keep hold of all key players, they have also added more quality to the ranks, with Nicklas Bendtner, Sebastian Jung, Aaron Hunt and Joshua Guilavogui all joining.

Even so, the Wolves have failed to impress during pre-season, with 5-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid arguably the lowest point, but this obviously does not have to mean anything.

Goalless draw against lower division Darmstadt in the DFB Pokal, however, showed that the team are still far from the desired form, although Wolfsburg at least managed to make it through on penalties.

And with the Wolves losing last nine fixtures against their more illustrious opponents, there is little value in odds of 13.00 (12/1) offered on away win.

Luiz Gustavo should return to the starting line-up, but new signing Nicklas Bendtner is still not fit to start, while Diego Benaglio is out with a bout of flu. Felipe, Ivan Perisic, Patrick Ochs and Christian Trasch are injured.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Grun – Jung, Naldo, Knoche, Rodriguez – Guilavogui, Gustavo – Hunt, Arnold, de Bruyne – Olic.