The Bundesliga return continues on Sunday with two more matches as the eyes of the world once again focus in on the joys that the top flight of German football can bring us. It is a day where the top of the table is in focus.
Borussia Dortmund laid down a marker for their title credentials with a 4-0 win over their rivals Schalke on Saturday to move to within a point of Bayern Munich at the top and on Sunday we will see what the response of the champions is.
FC Koln vs Mainz (14:30)
The first match of the first Sunday double header of action in a couple of months begins in Cologne where two largely middle of the road sides meet as FC Koln take on Mainz in a battle of two teams who were actually finding a nice groove in terms of form before football was shut down.
Things might well have changed for the home side since then though as they had three of their players develop symptoms of Covid-19 at the beginning of the month and they were forced into self-isolation, which is far from ideal for them here. Even if everything is now good in that department you would think it would still have a mental impact. That could be to the advantage of Mainz, who still need to find a few points to avoid having to play off for their Bundesliga spot next season. Mainz had only lost one of their last five before lockdown which is encouraging.
Given all that has gone on with the FC Koln players and the virus there is no way I can be rushing in on them at odds on even if they are the highest placed side. The value probably does lie with Mainz in this one but there are question marks over them as well and in a match which is throwing up more questions than answers, especially when the uncertain nature of the beast is concerned to the best thing is to sit this one out.
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Union Berlin vs Bayern Munich (17:00)
The second match of the double header on Sunday comes from the capital as Union Berlin, enjoying their first campaign back in the big time, host the champions Bayern Munich, a side who will be looking to re-establish their four point gap at the top of the table with a win here.
Union Berlin have a decent enough home record this season with six wins on their own patch and in a tight ground with the fans right on top of them that is probably no surprise, but it could be that of all the sides in the division, they are the ones who lose the most by having no supporters in the stadium. I’m also very wary of sides who have little to play for, which in truth is the case for the Berlin outfit. The other issue for the hosts is that they will be without their manager Urs Fischer who broke the quarantine rules earlier in the week.
It certainly isn’t the case for Bayern however, they have all the marbles to play for and having seen their major rivals for the title Dortmund lay a marker down on Saturday, I’m expecting the Bavarians to want to do the same here. On the face of it, in current circumstances a -2 Asian handicap would look big, and it is big, but Dortmund might well have fired Bayern into delivering their best. I’m not one for big handicaps per se but the five substitutions rule shouldn’t be forgotten. That will give Bayern’s squad depth the chance to shine and the longer this goes the more dominant they should be. I’ll back them to cover here.
Tips
PUSH – Back Bayern Munich (-2AH) to beat Union Berlin for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Bet365
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