By Rich

​Stuttgart’s Nicolas Gonzalez scored his first Bundesliga goal of the season on Friday, on a penalty kick in the 56th minute to force a 1:1 draw against hosts FC Schalke 04. Schalke’s Malick Thiaw scored the match’s first goal, and Thiaw’s first-ever Bundesliga goal, in the 30th minute off a free kick from Amine Harit, and it was the first time this season that Schalke took the lead in any of their matches. With the draw, Schalke are now winless in 22 consecutive Bundesliga matches. Saturday’s most competitive match is likely to be that between hosts Eintracht Frankfurt and visitors SV Werder Bremen, who are tied in the standings with 8 points each. Eintracht suffered a 5-goal defeat last weekend against Bayern, but have earned a respectable spot in the league table, thanks to the scoring duo of Andre Silva and Bas Dost, who are responsible for 5 of the club’s 7 goals so far this season. Dost, in particular, appears to love playing against Bremen: he has notched 5 goals and 3 assists in 4 matches against the club. Bremen are unbeaten in 4 consecutive matches, having lost to Hertha Berlin on the first matchday of the season before going on to defeat Schalke and Bielefeld and drawing with Freiburg and Hoffenheim. Although Bremen will have to do without the services of Niclas Füllkrug, who is out for several weeks with a calf injury, he has a fine replacement in USMNT striker Josh Sargent. Later on Saturday, Leipzig will have the chance to maintain their 1-point lead over Bayern when Leipzig travel to Gladbach. Although Gladbach suffered a 3:0 defeat against Borussia Dortmund on opening weekend, they have gone unbeaten in 6 competitive outings, thanks in part to Jonas Hofmann, who has achieved 4 goals and 5 assists in 8 appearances. Leipzig are unbeaten so far this season in the Bundesliga, but suffered a 5:0 defeat in the Champions League against Manchester United. Leipzig have never lost to Gladbach and are also unbeaten in their 9 away matches in the Bundesliga - 10 would be a new club record. Berlin’s 2 clubs in the Bundesliga will have to wait until Sunday and Monday to compete, when Hertha host nearby Wolfsburg and Union Berlin travel down south to Hoffenheim. Arsenal loanee Matteo Guendouzi is set to make his debut for Hertha, following injury and illness that kept him idle in October.

By Rich

​Joscha Wosz is an 18-year-old midfielder for RB Leipzig. Wosz was born on July 20, 2002 in Halle, Germany, and spent his youth career playing for Hallescher FC until 2015, when he moved to the academy of RB Leipzig. He made his professional debut for Leipzig in the Bundesliga on October 3rd, 2020, when he came on in the 83rd minute as a substitute for Angelino against FC Schalke 04. Wosz also made 2 appearances for Germany’s U17 squad in 2018, and is the nephew of former footballer Dariusz Wosz, who is now a trainer for VfL Bochum. Joscha Wosz said in an interview with RB Live in 2019 that he enjoys being active on Instagram and having a community of followers there.

By Rich

​Stuttgart’s Orel Mangala scored the fastest goal of the current season so far, but visitors Cologne came back to end the match in a 1:1 tie. Mangala’s goal came just 24 seconds into the match, and Cologne’s equalizer came in the 23rd minute from Sebastian Andersson. Stuttgart are now unbeaten in 4 matches, which they failed to do the last time they were in the 1. Bundesliga, in the 2018/19 season. The draw means that Cologne’s winless streak (20 matches) is now bested only by Schalke (21). Schalke will travel to nearby Borussia Dortmund on Saturday for another Revierderby. Dortmund have now won 3 of their last 4 Bundesliga matches, including a 1:0 win over Hoffenheim in their last away match, when Erling Haaland and Marco Reus combined to score the match’s only goal. The derby’s same fixture last season ended in a 4:0 win for Dortmund, and Haaland was represented in that score. Haaland has 22 goals in 25 competitive outings for Dortmund, while Reus has only scored once in 9 derby outings against Schalke, and that was back in February 2015. Schalke collected their first point of the season last Sunday when Eintracht Frankfurt loanee Goncalo Paciencia came off the bench to even the match against Union Berlin. Another of Saturday’s competitive matches could be that between Bayern and visiting Eintracht Frankfurt. While Bayern’s Lewandowski is now the league’s top scorer this season, Frankfurt are 1 of only 4 club still unbeaten during the current season, and a win against Bayern could move them to the top of the table. Lewandowski has scored in 12 of the last 17 matches between the 2 clubs, and that includes the 2 matches last season. Conversely, Frankfurt are on an 8-game unbeaten streak in the league, and only Augsburg goaltender Rafal Gikiewicz has made more saves this season than Frankfurt’s Kevin Trapp. Looking ahead to the rest of the weekend’s matches, Augsburg will look to continue an impressive season thus far when they travel to Leverkusen on Monday. Augsburg lost for the first time this season at home on Matchday 4 against RB Leipzig, and Leverkusen are unbeaten in their 18 Bundesliga meetings with Augsburg to date, and are another of the clubs without a loss so far this season.