Mainz 05 vs Bayern Munich

MEWA Arena is the venue as Mainz 05 and Bayern Munich go head-to-head in a ‘David vs Goliath’ Bundesliga clash.

Despite taking the lead three times on last weekend’s trip to Wolfsburg, Mainz succumbed to a morale-wracking 4-3 defeat at the final whistle, relinquishing a three-game winning league streak. Nine points clear of the bottom three pre-round, Bo Henriksen’s men entertain leaders Bayern Munich, seeking revenge for a disheartening 4-0 defeat in DFB-Pokal action in October. There’s no better place to enact revenge than the MEWA Arena, where they’ve gone from five consecutive winless league outings at the beginning of the season (D2, L3) to back-to-back two-goal margin victories. Bayern’s visit is unlikely to faze the 05ers, considering they’ve won their last three home matches against a side that sat at the Bundesliga summit ahead of the game, incidentally beating none other than the Bavarians on each occasion! 

Meanwhile, a heart-wrenching DFB-Pokal exit at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen hasn’t sat well with Bayern Munich as they’ve unleashed hell on Heidenheim and Shakhtar Donetsk afterward, scoring 4+ goals in both victories. With the Bavarians putting 3+ goals past Mainz across their last three competitive H2Hs at an average of five per game, another emphatic scoreline could be in store. Manager Vincent Kompany will expect nothing less after guiding the record-time German champions to 33 points in the first 13 rounds (W10, D3) – their most at this stage of a Bundesliga season since 2015/16. As the only team in Germany’s top flight yet to lose a league game this term, Bayern have been in an unforgiving mood on the road (W5, D2), netting an eye-catching 24 goals.