By Rich

​Wolfsburg extended their unbeaten start to the season to 9 matches with a goal-laden victory at the Volkswagen Arena over Bremen, with a final score of 5:3. Wolfsburg’s goals came from Ridle Baku in the 22nd minute, John Brooks in the 25th minute, Wout Weghorst in the 37th and 76th minutes, and Bartosz Bialek in the 4th minute of extra time, while Bremen’s goals came from Leonardo Bittencourt in the 13th minute, Kevin Möhwald in the 36th minute, and Wolfsburg’s John Brooks who committed an own goal in the 47th minute. Although the 5 goals scored in the first half is a league high during the current season, Wolfsburg have scored 11 of their 12 league goals before the end of each first half, and Weghorst has now scored 6 goals in his last 6 Bundesliga contests. The victory over Bremen now puts Wolfsburg momentarily in 5th place going into Saturday’s matches, tied on points with Leipzig, 1 point behind Leverkusen and Dortmund, and 2 points behind Bayern. Each of those clubs has a good chance of picking up another 3 points later in the weekend, as each will host a club that is struggling in the lower half of the table. Dortmund will host Köln on Saturday, and while Dortmund’s Erling Haaland is on a scoring streak, with goals in 7 consecutive matches, Köln are without a win this season and will be without captain Jonas Hector. Hector has not appeared for the club since Matchday 2 while recovering from whiplash, and his club have now gone 17 Bundesliga matches without a win. Also on Saturday, Leipzig will host Bielefeld, and while Leipzig have alternated between wins and losses recently, Bielefeld have lost 6 matches since a draw with Frankfurt and a win over Cologne at the beginning of the season. Bayern will travel to Stuttgart on Saturday, where the hosts will be without the services of striker Nicolas Gonzalez, who suffered a knee injury. Stuttgart have only lost once so far this season, but have had a run of 4 straight draws, while Bayern continue to benefit from the scoring prowess of Robert Lewandowski, who has scored 14 goals this season in all competitions. On Sunday, Leverkusen will host Hertha in the early match, and Leverkusen is currently the most in-form club in the league. Striker Lucas Alario scored 3 successive braces and 7 in his last 5 matches. Hertha have been inconsistent this season, losing most recently to Dortmund while defeating Augsburg. Hertha’s best hopes lie perhaps with Matheus Cunha, who has found the net 4 times in his last 3 Bundesliga outings.

By Rich

Marius Bülter is a 27-year-old winger for 1. FC Union Berlin. Bülter was born on March 29, 1993 in Ibbenbüren, Germany, and spent his youth career playing for Brukteria Dreierwalde, Preußen Münster, and Eintracht Rheine. His senior career continued at Eintracht Rheine from 2012 to 2013 and SuS Neuenkirchen from 2013 to 2014 before he signed for 1. FC Magdeburg in the summer of 2018. Over the 2018-19 season, Bülter made 32 appearances and scored 4 goals, but Magdeburg was relegated to the 3. Liga at the end of the season. On July 4, 2019, Bülter joined his current club on a season-long loan, with the club having the option to make the transfer permanent at the end of the season. He made his debut for Union Berlin in their first Bundesliga season in a 4:0 defeat at home against RB Leipzig, and scored his first goals for the club in a 3:1 victory at home over Borussia Dortmund.

By Rich

​Bundesliga competition resumes on Saturday following November’s international break, as the top of the table remains highly competitive. Bayern will host Bremen on Saturday, when Robert Lewandowski and Josh Sargent will lead the attacks of their respective teams. Lewandowski, of course, has been central to Bayern’s efforts so far this season, equalling his own record of 11 goals in the first 7 matches of the season. Bayern are without the services of Joshua Kimmich, whose knee surgery will keep him off the pitch for the rest of 2020. Bremen’s Josh Sargent has started in all 8 of Bremen’s competitive fixtures of the current season, and has 2 goals and 1 assist. Bremen have gone undefeated ever since their loss to Hertha Berlin on Matchday 1, but their last 4 fixtures have ended in 1:1 draws. This encounter between the 2 clubs will be their 109th, a Bundesliga record, and Bremen’s last win over Bayern was all the way back in September 2008. Also on Saturday, Leipzig will travel to Frankfurt, fresh off a victory over Freiburg and just 2 points behind Bayern. Leipzig are, in fact, enjoying their best-ever start to a season after 7 games played, with 5 victories and just 4 goals conceded. Frankfurt are unbeaten at home against Leipzig this calendar year, having won 2:0 in league play back in January, followed a few days later by a 3:1 DFB Cup victory. Frankfurt’s André Silva has scored 5 goals in 7 matchdays, and is behind only Bayern’s Lewandowski in league goals since the resumption of play after this past spring’s lockdown. Borussia Dortmund will travel to Berlin later on Saturday to face off against Hertha. Poland striker Krzysztof Piatek’s goal and assist against Augsburg ended Hertha’s 5-match winless streak prior to the international break, and is expected to start again. Hertha’s defeat over Augsburg was trainer Labbadia’s 100th win as a coach, and only Lucien Favre has more (151) among current managers. Dortmund is just 1 point behind Leipzig and 3 points behind Bayern in the table, and have benefited from the scoring prowess of Erling Haaland, who has notched 27 goals in 29 appearances for the club since his January arrival from Salzburg. Looking ahead to Sunday, Mainz will travel south to Freiburg, and will look to Jean-Philippe Mateta to keep them alive in the league. Mainz have managed just 7 goals so far this season, and 4 of them have come from Mateta. This may be Mainz’ best chance for a win yet, as Mateta has scored 5 goals in 3 meetings with Freiburg. He will face Freiburg’s Nils Petersen, who has scored 3 goals in 7 matches, and his club now has their encounters with Dortmund, Leipzig, and Leverkusen behind them. Finally on Sunday, Köln will host 5th-place Union Berlin.