Augsburg ended a four-game winless streak in the Bundesliga last weekend, coming from behind to beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1. Jess Thorup’s side are now looking up rather than down, sitting closer to the European places than the relegation zone.
The Fuggerstädter are in the midst of a run of home games, and after failing to beat Borussia Dortmund or Bayer Leverkusen in their last two outings at the WWK Arena, they welcome Bayern Munich today. It’s a match that shouldn’t scare the home fans, Augsburg having avoided defeat in three of their last four home league games (2 wins, 1 draw), winning the last two!
Bayern Munich, the defending German champions, are not in the best of form at the moment, even though they bounced back from their defeat to Werder Bremen by beating Union Berlin 1-0 in a close-fought match on Wednesday night. The win keeps Bayern four points behind Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen. In two weeks, Bayern will face Xabi Alonso’s men and can’t afford to slip up.
Injuries to Dayot Upamecano and Konrad Laimer have caused concern for Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel ahead of the trip to Augsburg. Eric Dier, who arrived in January, could therefore be handed a start, and if he is, he would make history for Bayern, who could field two Englishmen in their starting lineup for the first time in their history, alongside top scorer Harry Kane.
Players to watch: Kevin Mbabu, Augsburg’s defender, was named man of the match by Flashscore for his assist against Gladbach, but he has lost his last five encounters with Bayern when he was playing for Wolfsburg. Kingsley Coman could take advantage of this to try to improve his unbeaten record against Augsburg (10 wins, 1 draw), having directly contributed to six goals in that run (3 goals, 3 assists).
Hot stat: Augsburg have conceded two-thirds (22) of their Bundesliga goals in the first half.
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