Bayern vs. Bochum preview: Can VfL steal a point in Munich?
Bochum, who are still searching for their first win of the campaign, travel to a Bayern side that are looking to reclaim their place atop the Bundesliga table.
| Photo: Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Bayern
After a somewhat surprising Supercup loss to Leipzig, it’s been a fairly steady start to the season for the record champions. They defeated Manchester United midweek and can now push forward with wonderkid Jamal Musiala finally back to full fitness.
Questions remain at right-back and in center defense, as Konrad Laimer could share a role moving forward with Noussair Mazraoui. Matthijs de Ligt has struggled finding playing time as of late, but it’s fair to say that his time will come due to Bayern’s lack of depth at center back.
Despite this being Bayern’s third game in eight days, Thomas Tuchel is not expected to make many changes in an Oktoberfest affair.
Tuchel commented, "There's always the option of rotating the squad. We need to wait and see who is available to play. The feedback from yesterday was positive, everyone came out of the game feeling good. I think we have a full squad to choose from."
Team News
Captain Manuel Neuer and Raphaël Guerreiro still aren’t ready to make their returns.
Bochum
Except for one major loss against Stuttgart, Bochum have drawn the rest of their games in league play. The concern with the club is their play up front, as they sit only ahead of Köln with just four goals in four league games.
VfL are relying on Takuma Asano and Kevin Stöger to provide a scoring spark, but really need no. 9 Philipp Hofman to kick into gear. Bochum have won just once in their last 17 appearances against Bayern, with their last win at the Allianz Arena coming in 1991.
In his presser, Thomas Letsch stated, "We're like all the teams that go to Munich: We're the absolute underdogs. It's one of the most difficult tasks of the season. But we're preparing well and want to take advantage of the, admittedly small, chance to get something there."
Team News
Momo Kwarteng, Mats Pannewig, and Keven Schlotterbeck are out. Mohammed Tolba, Michael Esser, and Lys Mousset will likely remain unavailable, while the status of Jordi Osei-Tutu is unclear. In other news, the club extended the contract of key defender Erhan Masovic this week.