Defending champions Bayern Munich kick off the new campaign on Friday evening, playing host to struggling Werder Bremen at their Allianz Arena.

The new era at Allianz Arena starts with the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti, whose main task is to try and bring the Champions League trophy back to Munich.

The Italian coach was unable to get all his ideas across during pre-season given that a number of players were missing for one reason or another, but the Bavarians, nonetheless, enjoyed a strong start to the new campaign.

The 2-0 German Super Cup triumph over Borussia Dortmund at Signal-Iduna Park was a perfect way to start the season, while Bayern also went on to hammer Carl Zeiss Jena in the DFB Pokal.

Carlo Ancelotti seems to prefer using a 4-3-3 formation at Bayern, where Thomas Muller and Franck Ribery operate either side of Robert Lewandowski, and he is unlikely to alter the system when facing Werder Bremen.

As expected, the Bavarians have been made hot favourites to win the match (1.46 for a half-time/full-time win), and it is only a question of how many goals they will score.

Ancelotti does have some selection worries at the moment, with Arjen Robben, Holger Badstuber and Kingsley Coman all unavailable for selection.

Meanwhile, Xabi Alonso, Renato Sanches and Thiago Alcantara have resumed full training and they will be in contention for starting positions.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Neuer – Lahm, Hummels, Martinez, Alaba – Vidal, Alonso, Thiago – Muller, Lewandowski, Ribery.

Werder Bremen have been fighting for their lives over the last few years and the team are eager to avoid the difficult relegation tussle this season.

Ten points from last five matches last term proved enough to avoid the drop, but the Weserstadion outfit will be hoping to secure Bundesliga survival much earlier this time out.

The club have seen Jan Verstergaard, Anthony Ujah and Laszlo Kleinheisler leave this summer, but they also managed to recruit some very good footballers.

In came Jaroslav Drobny, Florian Kainz, Fallou Diagne, Max Kruse, Niklas Moisander and Lamine Sane, among others, while the club have now agreed a deal for Germany Under-23 international Robert Bauer.

Werder, however, had a pretty disappointing start to the season, losing to minnows Sportfreunde Lotte in the DFB Pokal, so they will definitely be hoping to show improvement against Bayern.

The problem is that key attackers Max Kruse and Claudio Pizarro are out injured, meaning summer recruit Lennart Thy will start up front.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Wiedwald – Gebre Selassie, Sane, Moisander, Sternberg – Fritz, Junuzovic – Yatabare, Kainz, Bartels – Thy.