Bayern Munich will endeavour to reignite their Bundesliga title hopes when they welcome Union Berlin to the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night.
The two teams were initially scheduled to meet on December 2, but this fixture was postponed due to adverse weather conditions.
Match preview
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Bayern Munich's quest to win a 12th successive Bundesliga title suffered a major blow on Sunday as they were surprisingly beaten 1-0 at home against mid-table outfit Werder Bremen.
Thomas Tuchel would have hoped that his side's warm-weather training camp in the Algarve during the winter break would have reinvigorated his players for the resumption of top-flight football, but the Bavarian giants failed to impress and slumped to their first home defeat of the season.
Mitchell Weiser haunted his former club by netting what proved to be the winning goal in the 59th minute to help Bremen claim their first win over Bayern since 2008. The reigning champions now face an uphill battle to retain their title as they sit seven points adrift of unbeaten leaders Bayer Leverkusen, who have played a game more.
Bayern's 65-game run of scoring in the Bundesliga at the Allianz Arena may have come to an end, but Tuchel's men will fancy their chances of making a swift return to winning ways on Wednesday, as they have won three of their last four home meetings with Union Berlin, including a 3-0 home victory in February last year.
The Bavarians are unbeaten in eight previous top-flight encounters with Union Berlin, but three of those have ended as draws, including a 1-1 draw played out at Stadion Alte Forsterei last season, so they must be on top of their game if they wish to collect maximum points and avoid another frustrating affair in midweek.
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A week after playing out a goalless draw with Freiburg in their first game of 2024 since the winter break, Union Berlin's trip to fellow relegation-threated side Mainz 05 was called off last Friday due to icy weather conditions.
The heavy build-up of ice on the lower tiers of the MEWA Arena as well as frozen conditions on the access routes to the stadium were deemed unsafe for supporters, and a new date for this fixture is set to be announced in due course.
Prior to Friday's postponement, Union Berlin picked up seven points across four Bundesliga matches under new head coach Nenad Bjelica, the same number of points accumulated in their previous 12 games this season.
However, the Iron Ones remain in the relegation picture heading into the second half of the campaign as they sit 16th in the table, only three points clear of the three teams below them - Mainz, FC Koln and SV Darmstadt 98.
Union Berlin head into Wednesday's tricky contest at Bayern Munich having picked up fewer away points (four) than any other Bundesliga side so far this season. A resilient, dogged display, similar to that of Bremen against Bayern last time out, will be required from the Irons Ones if they are to have any chance of success at the Allianz Arena, before entering a must-win clash with Darmstadt on Sunday.
Team News
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Bayern Munich are still having to cope without Noussair Mazraoui and Kim Min-jae as they are representing Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations and South Korea at the Asian Cup respectively.
Serge Gnabry (hamstring), Daniel Peretz (knee), Tarek Buchmann (thigh) and Bouna Sarr (ACL) all remain sidelined with injuries, but Matthijs de Ligt and Dayot Upamecano managed to shake off niggles to start against Werder Bremen, and the centre-back duo are set to retain their places in the first XI on Wednesday.
Tuchel will consider recalling midfielder Leon Goretzka at the expense of Raphael Guerreiro, while Thomas Muller is in contention to replace Jamal Musiala in the number 10 role, but the latter will likley keep his place in attack alongside Kingsley Coman, Leroy Sane and Harry Kane.
As for Union Berlin, Aissa Laidouni is away with Tunisia at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Rani Khedira remains sidelined with a calf injury.
Following the sale of Sheraldo Becker to Real Sociedad last week and the departure of Chelsea loanee David Datro Fofana to Burnley, the Irons Ones have signed Chris Bedia from Servette on a permanent deal, and the 27-year-old will battle with Kevin Volland, Mikkel Kaufmann and Kevin Behrens for a start in attack.
January signing Kevin Vogt is set to continue at centre-back alongside Robin Knoche and Diogo Leite, while left wing-back Robin Gosens will be looking to force his way back into the starting lineup at the expense of Jerome Roussillon.
Bayern Munich possible starting lineup:
Neuer; Laimer, Upanecano, De Ligt, Davies; Kimmich, Goretzka; Coman, Musiala, Sane; Kane
Union Berlin possible starting lineup:
Ronnow; Knoche, Vogt, Leite; Juranovic, Haberer, Kral, Aaronson, Gosens; Kaufmann, Volland
We say: Bayern Munich 3-1 Union Berlin
Bayern boss Tuchel was left raging after Sunday's disappointing loss to Werder Bremen and he will be expecting a response from his players versus a Union Berlin side whom they have never suffered defeat against in the Bundesliga.
The Irons Ones have made slight improvements since the arrival of Bjelica, but it is difficult to back against a fired-up Bayern outfit, who will hope to have more joy in the final third on Wednesday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Oliver Thomas
