Bochum vs. Bayern Munich preview: Can the visitors return to winning ways?
Bayern Munich will try to bounce back from consecutive defeats when they face Bochum on Sunday.
Bochum
Bochum are currently sitting in 15th place and six points clear of the bottom three after winning four, drawing 10 and losing seven of their 21 Bundesliga matches. Thomas Letsch’s side may be winless in three games, but they have proven to be a tough team to beat in recent times, with their last five league matches producing one win, three draws and one defeat.
They began that run of form with a draw against Werder Bremen, before they edged out Stuttgart to claim a narrow 1-0 victory. After falling to a 3-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund, die Unabsteigbaren went on to play out consecutive 1-1 draws against Augsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt.
Although they will face a tough test against the reigning champions, Bochum will be able to take confidence from the fact they are unbeaten in their last seven home games in the Bundesliga (W3, D5). In fact, they have lost just one of their 10 home league matches this season, with that sole defeat taking place against Borussia Mönchengladbach in September.
Team News
Michael Esser, Niclas Thiede and Mohammed Tolba are ruled out through injury, while Matus Bero will serve a one-match suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards.
Bayern Munich
Bayern will head into Sunday’s contest off the back of consecutive defeats. The Bavarians fell to a heavy 3-0 defeat in last Saturday’s league meeting with Leverkusen, before they were narrowly beaten by Lazio in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie. Bayern will have their chance to overturn the 1-0 deficit in March, but before they focus on the return leg, they will have to negotiate three Bundesliga games against Bochum, RB Leipzig and Freiburg.
The Bavarians are currently sitting in second place and eight points adrift of Leverkusen, who extended their advantage with a 2-1 win over Heidenheim on Saturday. Bayern will fancy their chances of closing the gap back to five points, having won their last three games against Bochum by a combined 17-0 scoreline. The visitors would certainly welcome a clean sheet after conceding 11 goals across their previous four away league matches.
Team News
Bayern are unable to call upon the services of Sacha Boey, Alphonso Davies, Kingsley Coman, Konrad Laimer, Serge Gnabry, Bouna Sarr, Tarek Buchmann and Noel Aseko-Nkili.