Bayern Munich vs Mainz 05

Perennial Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich entertain hot relegation candidates Mainz 05 at the Allianz Arena.

Bayern Munich found some comfort in these dark times in the lead-up to this contest, overturning a first-leg deficit in their Champions League last-16 tie against Lazio with a scintillating 3-0 home win. However, they can forget about a 12th consecutive Bundesliga title after a 2-2 draw at Freiburg last weekend as they start this round ten points below table-topping Bayer Leverkusen. Winning just once in their four most recent league outings (D1, L2) contributed to such a substantial gap, not to mention Bayern’s emerging defensive woes. Thomas Tuchel’s men are without a clean sheet in their last six league matches, making Mainz’s visit to Munich even more exciting. The Bavarians have won six consecutive home H2Hs since April 2017 but failed to register a shutout in each of the last four.

Meanwhile, Mainz’s decent scoring run at the Allianz Arena offers no consolation to the traveling support, knowing the visitors have conceded 4+ goals in five of their last six away H2Hs. Another disappointing result would probably spell the end of Mainz’s survival hopes, as they head into proceedings trailing 15th-placed Bochum by nine points. Their best chance of avoiding relegation is via playoffs, and with 16th-placed Cologne only one point away, that’s a realistic possibility. A point here would be massive, and though they’ve established themselves as ‘stalemate specialists,’ they’d gladly settle for an 11th draw this Bundesliga season. But as the only side yet to win an away league game in 2023/24 (D6, L6), Bo Henriksen’s men seem destined to fail.