Mainz 05 vs Bayern Munich preview: Champions aiming to make it ten league games without defeat
After being confirmed as champions, Bayern Munich will be looking to extend their nine-game unbeaten Bundesliga run when they face Mainz 05 on Saturday.
| Serge Gnabry. | Photo: Werner100359, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Mainz 05
Mainz's hopes of European football have evaporated in recent weeks due to a five-game winless run that has contained three defeats.
The most recent of those losses occurred last weekend when ten-man Mainz were thumped 5-0 away to Wolfsburg. Jonas Wind opened the scoring before Niklas Tauer was shown a straight red card, sparking a complete capitulation by Die Nullfünfer who conceded four further goals before half time.
Despite their recent run of poor results, Mainz are still on course to achieve their best Bundesliga league finish position since the 2015/16 season, while Bo Svensson will be challenging his team to move into the top half of the table before the Bundesliga campaign draws to a close.
Mainz have collected 31 of their 39 points from home matches this season, and on Saturday they will look to replicate the 2-1 victory they picked up over Bayern Munich in the home meeting between the two sides last season.
Team News
Lee Jae-sung will miss out due to a knee problem, while Paul Nebel, Delano Burgzorg and Jerry St. Juste are also injury absentees for the hosts. After being sent off against Wolfsburg, Tauer will be suspended for Saturday's contest.
Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich will be riding a crest of a wave after they clinched their tenth consecutive Bundesliga title with a 3-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund last weekend.
Serge Gnabry and Robert Lewandowski both found the net in the first half against Dortmund before Emre Can dispatch his spot-kick to halve the deficit. Jamal Musiala, however, put the result beyond doubt when he scored seven minutes from time.
After sealing the league title, Bayern may be tempted to take their foot off the gas, but Julen Nagelsmann will be urging his players to remain fully focused until the end of the season.
The visitors will also be aiming to rack up 100 league goals this term, which would require Bayern to find the net on eight occasions in their final three matches. Having scored at least three goals in four of their last five Bundesliga games, Bayern will be confident that they can bring up the century before the end of the season.
Team News
Nagelsmann has stated that Thomas Müller is out of Saturday's encounter due to illness, while there are also doubts over the availability of Dayot Upamecano and Robert Lewandowski.