It is Week 29 of the Bundesliga this weekend as the season continues its sprint to a finish due to the Covid-19 enforced stoppage. The title was all but decided when Bayern Munich beat Borussia Dortmund – and other chasers fail to pick up points – but there is still plenty to play for in terms of relegation and places in the Champions League for next season.
Here is a look at the pick of the games that will be taking place on Saturday.
Schalke vs, Werder Bremen
One of the more intriguing matches of the round sees Werder Bremen travel to take on Schalke. Since the restart, these two teams have been going in different directions, with relegation-threatened Bremen picking up points and a Schalke team that was threatening for a European place seemingly in freefall.
Schalke has lost three games in a row as they have continued their poor form from just before the season was halted. They are winless in 10 games, scoring just three goals in that span and conceding 19. That they are only five points out of the top-six just goes to show how well they were playing earlier in the season. They will be without midfield lynchpins Suat Serder and Amine Harit again here.
Bremen lost 4-1 to Bayer Leverkusen three games ago, but they bounced back with a win over Freiburg and a 0-0 draw with high flying Borussia Monchengladbach last time out. This is a team that needs wins to pull back Fortuna Dusseldorf’s five-point lead in holding the relegation playoff spot, but they have a game in hand and are picking up points. They will be looking to USA striker Josh Sargent and top scorer Milot Rashica – though he is on a 12 game league scoring drought – to score the goals to win here.
We are BetXChange like Werder Bremen in this one. There is something just not working about the balance of a Schalke side that has fallen apart. Take the away team to win at 1.88 and continue their great escape.
Bayern Munich vs. Fortuna Dusseldorf
A Joshua Kimmich goal in the midweek top of the table clash between Bayern and Dortmund means that the Bavarian club is basically all but champions at this point. They hold a seven-point lead with six rounds of fixtures to be played and they are expected to pick up a comfortable win here as is seen by their short price of 0.08 to win at BetXChange.
One interesting aspect of the game is that Robert Lewandowski will be looking to complete his personal Bundesliga set here. He has scored against 17 of the 18 clubs currently in the German top-flight over the course of his career – including against Bayern when he played for Dortmund. Fortuna Dusseldorf is the one team missing from his list. He will have to score without the help of Corentin Tolisso, Thiago, and playmaker Phillippe Coutinho who are all missing through injury here.
It has been 30 years since Fortuna beat Bayern in a Bundesliga fixture and there is nothing to suggest that their win will come here. Bayern is 14 unbeaten in the league and while Dusseldorf has picked up points in each of their last six games under Uwe Rosler, playing Bayern is always a more difficult task than anything else in the league.
Bayern will win here, but their odds make a straight-up play of little value. Take a punt on Lewandowski to bet the first scorer at 1.70 and with Bayern expected to be ruthless here a correct score bet of 3-0 (6.30) or 4-0 (7.04) in their favor could be worth a shot.
