Hoffenheim are eager to return to winning ways after losing to Koln, but Holger Stanislawski’s side clearly face a mountain to climb as they play host to relentless Bayern Munich. The Bavarians have just extended their winning run to ten games and they simply look unstoppable at the moment.

Good start

Following the 11th-place finish in previous Bundesliga campaign, the club chiefs did little to reinforce the squad over the summer, showing a clear lack of ambition. Fabian Johnson and Knowledge Musona were the only notable arrivals, whereas defenders Josip Simunic and Jukka Raitala left. Hoffenheim did lose their opening game to Hannover, but then went on to win four of next five games, beating sides like Borussia Dortmund, Mainz and Wolfsburg in the process. It appears that the players have become overconfident after the good start to the season, and they were soon grounded with the 2:0 defeat in Koln. Even before the game it was evident that the atmosphere in the team was far from impressive, with strikers Chinedu Obasi and Knowlegde Musona relegated to the bench after coming late for the pre-match meal. With several important players missing out through injuries, Hoffenheim could find it tough to match high-flying Bayern.

Matthias Jassle and Fabian Johnson miss out through injury, while Vedad Ibisevic and Boris Vukcevic have resumed training, but are still few weeks away from returning into competitive action.

Can anyone stop Bayern?

It is only normal for Bayern Munich to significantly reinforce the squad every time they lose out on the Bundesliga title, so nobody was surprised by their heavy summer spending. It is now clear that the money have been used wisely as the shaky defence gained a lot of steel with the arrivals of Rafinha, Neuer and Boateng, whereas the competition for places had a very positive effect on Daniel van Buyten, who is now back to his best. With midfield and attack in perfect working order as well, Bayern have won ten straight games after the shock defeat to Borussia M’gladbach in their opening game and what it is even more impressive is that they haven’t conceded a single goal during that period. The Bavarians have been facing some pretty average sides of late, but they also beat Wolfsburg, Hamburger, Villarreal, Schalke, Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City, meaning that Hoffenheim have every reason to fear this clash.

After Arjen Robben recovered from injury, coach Jupp Heynckess has absolutely no injury worries, although he has to decide whether to keep his faith in Toni Kroos or to play Robben from the start.

Verdict

Hoffenheim have played some good football at the start to the season, but they clearly don’t look like the team capable of stopping relentless Bayern. The Bavarians are on top of their game at the moment and they look set to record another comfortable victory.

Our prediction: Bayern with -1 Asian handicap

Odds: 1.86 (43/50)

Bookmaker: Ladbrokes