By Rich

​Wolfsburg won a 3:0 shutout on Friday against hosts DSC Arminia Bielefeld, creating a new club record with a sixth consecutive clean sheet. The match’s first two goals came from Renato Steffen, who found the goal in the 29th and 47th minutes. Wolfsburg then secured its victory in the 54th minute, when Maximilian Arnold used his left foot to send the ball into the top corner of the net. The victory means that Wolfsburg is now in third place and just two points behind Leipzig, thanks to an unbeaten streak of eight league matches, including all four of their last away games. Bielefeld now remains in the league’s relegation playoff spot, and has lost all previous five contests against Wolfsburg. All eyes turn on Saturday to the Revierderby between hosts FC Schalke 04 and visitors Borussia Dortmund, both clubs that have seen better seasons. Schalke are all but certain to be relegated at the close of the season, but have benefited since the November arrival of Matthew Hoppe, who has scored five goals already in the Rückrunde. Dortmund have a much better record to this point in the season, but under new coach Edin Terzic, who replaced Lucien Favre in December, the club has a record of seven wins, two draws, and four losses. Striker Erling Haaland has managed 18 goals in Bundesliga and UEFA competition, and the club will need more goals from Haaland if it is to remain in contention for a spot in the Champions League. Dortmund’s Marco Reus will be making his 300th Bundesliga appearance on Saturday, and his record includes 130 goals and 84 assists. This will be the 98th Revierderby in the Bundesliga, and Schalke have won 32 of those matches, while Dortmund has won 35, including the reverse fixture earlier this season. Also on Saturday, league leader Bayern München will travel to Frankfurt, where the league’s top two scorers in 2021 will face off. Frankfurt have a stellar record of late, having climbed from ninth place at Christmas to third place now, just five points behind Leipzig. The club’s Andre Silva currently has the most goals (nine) of any player in Europe’s top five leagues in 2021, including at least one goal in six of the last seven games. Bayern are coming off a 3:3 draw last Monday against Bielefeld, and one of those goals came from league-leading striker Robert Lewandowski, whose 25 goals after 21 matchdays set a new league record. On Sunday, the league’s second-place club, Leipzig, will look to close the gap with Bayern when the Red Bulls travel to Berlin to play against Hertha..

By Rich

​RB Leipzig reinforced its 2nd-place position in the table with a 2:1 victory on Friday over visitors FC Augsburg. The match’s first goal came in the 38th minute off a penalty kick by Dani Olmo, and his goal was followed just 5 minutes later when Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku made the score 2:0 going into the halftime break. Although Augsburg failed to even have a shot on goal during the entire first half, and almost the entire second half, they finally tightened the match in the 77th minute, when Daniel Caligiuri found the net off a penalty kick of his own. The loss on Friday means that Augsburg have lost 6 of their last 7 matches, and Augsburg have failed to win in their last 9 competitive encounters with Leipzig. Leipzig currently have the best defense in the league, with just 18 goals conceded, and the win leaves them just 4 points behind first-place Bayern going into the rest of the weekend’s contests. The league’s 3rd-place club, VfL Wolfsburg, will host Borussia Mönchengladbach in Sunday’s late game, a match that will be important in deciding future European competition. Wolfsburg have won 6 of their last 7 games, and have conceded just 19 goals, making their defense the league’s 2nd-best after Leipzig. Adding to the club’s star defense is the scoring prowess of striker Wout Weghorst, who is now in 3rd place in the scorer’s table with 14. Gladbach’s loss to Cologne last weekend has left them 6 points behind Wolfsburg, and in 7th place in the table, and the last time the club won an away match against Wolfsburg was back in November 2003. Gladbach does, however, come to the match well-armed with the striking prowess of captain Lars Stindl, who in 20 appearances this season has scored 9 goals and assisted in 5 others. 2 other members of the Foals’ squad will be celebrating anniversaries this weekend: Florian Neuhaus is expected to make his 100th competitive appearance for the club, while Matthias Ginter is expected to make his 250th Bundesliga appearance. The weekend’s competition will not end until Monday, when Bayern host Bielefeld. While Bayern could extend their lead at the top of the table with a win over Bielefeld, the visitors are coming off a 15-day break since their last match, following the snow-induced postponement of last weekend’s scheduled match against Bremen.

By Rich

​FC Bayern München moved 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga on Friday with a close 1:0 victory over hosts Hertha Berlin. The game’s lone goal came in the 21st minute, after Kingsley Coman fired the ball into the net off a deflection from Niklas Stark. Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski failed to convert a penalty shortly before Coman’s goal, and it was his first missed conversion since a win over VfB Stuttgart in January 2019. The shutout earned Bayern’s Manuel Neuer his 200th clean sheet in the Bundesliga, and Hertha welcomed Sami Khedira back into the Bundesliga: it was Khedira’s first Bundesliga appearance for 10 years and 273 days. Saturday’s big match will likely be that in the Schwarzwald-Stadion, when Borussia Dortmund travel to Freiburg. Although Freiburg suffered one of their worst losses this season last weekend against Wolfsburg, the club has an unbeaten record at home this season, where they have scored in every match so far. Dortmund managed to beat Augsburg 3:1 last Saturday, but were taken into extra time on Tuesday in DFB Pokal competition against Paderborn, and the club have lost three of their last four away matches. Dortmund will continue without goaltender Roman Bürki, who has a shoulder injury and will continue to be replaced by Marwin Hitz. The match on Saturday will be Freiburg’s 700th, and trainer Christian Streich’s 275th, in the Bundesliga. The final match on Saturday will be the Rhine Derby between hosts Borussia Mönchengladbach and visitors 1. FC Köln. Although Gladbach are currently in seventh place in the table, they have succeeded in collecting points in recent weeks, and are undefeated since mid-December. Cologne was eliminated from DFB Pokal competition earlier in the week following a shoot-out loss to Jahn Regensburg, but within the league are coming off a 3:1 victory last weekend over Bielefeld. The reverse fixture earlier this season ended with a 3:1 victory for Gladbach, and the Foals are, together with Eintracht Frankfurt, the only unbeaten Bundesliga team in 2021. Cologne have only won 25 of the 91 Bundesliga derbies against Gladbach, while Gladbach have won 51 of them. Looking ahead to Sunday, Bielefeld will look to use their home-field advantage against Bremen and move out of the relegation play-off position. A tie or win would move them ahead of Hertha in the table, but Bielefeld have been unpredictable at home this season, winning four and losing six. Bremen won the reverse fixture earlier this season, and they have claimed more points (13) in away matches this season than they have at home (9).

By Rich

​Stuttgart enjoyed its first home win of the season on Friday with a 2:0 victory over Mainz. Mainz seemed to dominate the match during the first half, but that all changed ten minutes into the second half, when Borna Sosa sent a cross from the left to Sasa Kalajdzic, who headed the ball into the goal. The victory was then sealed in the seventy-second minute by Silas Wamangituka, who ran the ball nearly the length of the pitch to score his eleventh goal of the season. Wamangituka became the first Stuttgart player to score eleven goals after the first nineteen games of the season since Fredi Bobic, who did the same twenty-four years ago, during the 1996/7 season. On Saturday, all eyes will turn to the Leipzig-Leverkusen match, as Leipzig looks to defend its second-place position in the table against the club with the second-tightest defense in the league. Although in second place, Leipzig have experienced an erratic start to 2021, thanks in part to a stunning 3:2 defeat last weekend at the hands of Mainz. The gap between the club and first-place Bayern has now widened to seven points, so Leipzig cannot a second consecutive defeat. Although American player Tyler Adams scored his first Bundesliga goal last weekend, he may be dropped in favor of returning Kevin Kampl and Nordi Mukiele. Leipzig will be without the services of Emil Forsberg, who he is out with a knee injury, but may see the return from a groin problem of Yussuf Poulsen. Leverkusen have also struggled recently, with four losses in their last six contests, but they have nevertheless defeated Dortmund. Leverkusen’s attack on Saturday is likely to be led by club captain Charles Aranguiz, Florian Wirtz, and Kerem Demirbay in the midfield, backing up either Lucas Alario or Patrik Schick. Four of the past nine Bundesliga meetings between the two clubs have resulted in draws, including the last three. Looking ahead to Sunday, two clubs in proximity to relegation will face off, when Köln host Bielefeld. Köln are going into the match with new signings Max Meyer and Emmanuel Dennis, and a win over Bielefeld could leapfrog them out of the relegation play-off spot. Although Köln have defeated nearby rivals Dortmund and Schalke this season, they lost to Bielefeld 1:0 in the reverse fixture this season, and Bielefeld are coming off of victories over Hertha and Stuttgart and a loss to Frankfurt. Finally on Sunday, two other top-form clubs will wrap up the competition when Wolfsburg host Freiburg. This will be Wolfsburg’s 400th home game in the Bundesliga.