Fresh from their morale-boosting Champions League win in midweek, Bayern Munich return to Bundesliga action on Saturday as they welcome relegation-threatened Mainz 05 to the Allianz Arena.
The Bavarian will be looking to complete their first league double over the 05ers since 2019-20 after claiming a 3-1 away victory in the reverse fixture in October last year.
Match preview
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Bayern Munich's hopes of winning at least one major piece of silverware in the form of the Champions League remain alive, after they overturned a 1-0 first-leg deficit to beat Lazio 3-0 on home soil in the reverse fixture on Tuesday to progress from the last 16.
The Bavarians were left frustrated by their Italian counterparts until star striker Harry Kane broke the deadlock on the 39-minute mark, shortly before Thomas Muller doubled the hosts' advantage in first-half stoppage time.
Kane then sealed the victory midway through the second half with his 33rd goal in as many matches across all competitions to ensure that Thomas Tuchel's side advance to the quarter-finals for the fifth successive year, with the six-time European winners to discover their opponents in next Friday's draw.
The Champions League appears to be Bayern's only realistic chance of lifting a trophy this term, as they resume Bundesliga duties this weekend sitting second in the table and 10 points behind unbeaten leaders Bayer Leverkusen; the Bavarians most recently lost ground on their title rivals following a 2-2 draw at Freiburg last weekend.
Back-to-back games against the Bundesliga's bottom-two clubs are up next for Bayern, including Saturday's meeting with Mainz whom they have beaten in each of their last six top-flight home matches, including an emphatic 6-2 victory at the Allianz Arena last season.
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Since the appointment of new head coach Bo Henriksen, Mainz have picked up four points from their last three Bundesliga games to give themselves a glimmer of hope in their quest to preserve their top-flight status for a 16th successive season.
The 05ers picked up just their second league win of the season in Henriksen's first game in charge at home to Augsburg (1-0) last month, before losing 2-1 away against leaders Bayer Leverkusen and drawing 1-1 at home to Borussia Monchengladbach last weekend, ending both matches with 10 men.
Jonathan Burkardt's early opener was cancelled out by Monchengladbach's Nathan Ngoumou 10 minutes after half time, and Mainz were eventually forced to settle for just a point in a contest that they registered just three of their 19 shots on target.
With 10 Bundesliga games remaining, Mainz currently sit 17th in the table with only 16 points – their lowest-ever points return at this stage of a top-flight season. Although the 05ers are nine points adrift of safety, they are only one point behind FC Koln in the relegation playoff position.
Mainz can ill-afford to drop too many more points heading down the home straight, but success on Saturday will be a tall order as they have lost more top-flight matches against Bayern (25) than they have against any other opponent, losing 13 of their 17 away meetings in the Bundesliga. However, they did beat the Bavarian giants 3-1 on home soil in April of last year.
Team News
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Bayern Munich will be without Kingsley Coman, Bouna Sarr (both knee) Noel Aseko (ankle) and Tarek Buchmann (thigh), due to injury, while both Sacha Boey and Noussair Mazraoui will have hamstring issues assessed ahead of kickoff after missing the midweek win over Lazio.
Aleksandar Pavlovic will serve a one-match suspension due to an accumulation of yellow cards, so Raphael Guerreiro could moved into midfield to partner Leon Goretzka, allowing Real Madrid-linked Alphonso Davies to return at left-back.
After three months on the sidelines with a thigh injury, Serge Gnabry made his comeback as a late substitute against Lazio and the winger will be in contention to feature again in some capacity on Saturday, although attacking trio Leroy Sane, Jamal Musiala and Muller are all expected to keep their places in behind central striker Kane.
As for Mainz, Edmilson Fernandes (ankle), Maxim Leitsch (groin), Nelson Weiper (knee) and Stefan Bell (illness) all remain unavailable for selection, while Andreas Hanche-Olsen (hamstring) is a doubt.
The 05ers will also have to cope without Jessic Ngankam, Leandro Barreiro and Dominik Kohr due to suspension, the latter of whom was sent off last time out, but Anthony Caci is available to return from a one-match ban and could replace Kohr in the back three.
In the absence of Barreiro, Tom Krauss could partner Nadiem Amiri in centre-midfield, while Lee Jae-sung and Brajan Gruda are set to continue in advanced roles in behind Burkardt, who has scored two goals in his last three starts up front.
Bayern Munich possible starting lineup:
Neuer; Laimer, De Ligt, Kim, Davies; Kimmich, Goretzka; Sane, Muller, Musiala; Kane
Mainz 05 possible starting lineup:
Zentner; Van den Berg, Guilavogui, Caci; Widmer, Krauss, Amiri, Mwene; Gruda, Lee; Burkardt
We say: Bayern Munich 4-1 Mainz 05
Bayern will enter Saturday's contest as firm favourites, but they are aware that there is no room for error from now until the end of the season if they are to keep their slim hopes of retaining the Bundesliga title alive.
Mainz cannot be written off entirely as they are fighting for their lives at the wrong end of the table and have marginally improved under Henriksen, but Bayern should ultimately have the firepower to outscore their opponents en route to a comfortable victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
