Borussia Monchengladbach will be aiming to record their first Bundesliga win of the season when they host Bayern Munich on Saturday.
The visitors, meanwhile, can head into the international break with a perfect record after winning their first two matches.
Having seen their head coach Daniel Farke depart to Leeds United during the summer, Gladbach are embarking on a new era under his successor Gerardo Seoane, who was sacked by Bayer Leverkusen last October.
However, the 44-year-old had arrived in Germany with a big reputation after winning three successive titles with Young Boys in his home country Switzerland, before guiding Leverkusen to their strongest placing in six years by finishing third in his debut season at the club.
Things quickly unravelled for him after that, though, so losing 3-0 at home to his old club with Gladbach last weekend would have particularly stung. Victor Boniface’s brace either side of Jonathan Tah’s strike deep into first half injury-time provided Xabi Alonso’s side with all three points, which they deserved from a dominant display.
Having drawn 4-4 away to Augsburg on the opening matchday, Seoane will be hoping to see his side tighten up defensively as soon as possible, although that may have to wait given that they face the reigning champions on Saturday evening. That said, no team has taken more points (35) against the Bavarians than Gladbach since the 2011/12 campaign, with Die Fohlen unbeaten in their last five matches against the German giants.
Indeed, such is their surprisingly strong record against them throughout history, Gladbach have firmly established themselves as Bayern’s Angstgegner (bogey team), meaning there will be plenty of trepidation when the reigning champions travel to Monchengladbach this weekend.
However, Thomas Tuchel’s side have looked in fine fettle during their opening victories, with Werder Bremen swatted aside 4-0 in the Bundesliga’s curtain-raiser, before Augsburg were dispatched 3-1 at the Allianz Arena last time out.
England striker Harry Kane already has three league goals to his name following his £100m move from Tottenham Hotspur, with the 30-year-old belatedly filling Robert Lewandowski’s rather large boots after the legendary forward joined Barcelona last summer. Kane’s sheer presence alone could help ensure that Bayern are not involved in any tight title races this time around after their back-and-forth until the very end with Borussia Dortmund last season.
Tuchel will not be taking anything for granted just yet, though, especially if he does not capture the high-quality holding midfielder which he has demanded since the transfer window opened. Regardless, FC Hollywood already possess more than enough star-dust to capture their 12th successive Bundesliga title, with ending their miserable run of form against their forthcoming opponents at Borussia-Park on Saturday only likely to take them one step closer towards doing so.
Gladbach have plenty of players out of action at present, which is hardly helping Seoane settle into his new role. Luca Netz, Nico Elvedi, Hannes Wolf, Christoph Kramer, Fabio Chiarodia and Manu Kone are all expected to miss Saturday’s huge clash before potentially returning after the international break, but Stefan Lainer’s return date is unknown after the full-back was diagnosed with lymph node cancer last month.
Maximilian Wober and Joe Scally are both suffering with colds but they are likely to be risked through them, especially given the hosts’ lack of options, with Seoane unlikely to make any changes to the side that was beaten by his old club Leverkusen last weekend.
Bayern, meanwhile, will travel without Jamal Musiala, Bouna Sarr and Raphael Guerreiro due to muscle injuries. Guerreiro, who joined on a free transfer from Dortmund last month, has started training with a football again for the first time and will hope to make his debut against Leverkusen after the international break.
Gabriel Marusic and Manuel Neuer will not be involved in a matchday squad again any time soon, though, with their ACL rupture and broken legs respectively clearly longer-term issues.
Tuchel may see little reason to change a winning XI after comfortably edging past Augsburg in their last match, meaning the likes of Thomas Muller, Konrad Laimer and Matthijs de Ligt may have to settle on being used from the bench at some stage of the encounter.
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Omlin; Friedrich, Itakura, Wober; Honorat, Weigl, Neuhaus, Scally; Ngoumou, Cvancara, Plea
Bayern Munich possible starting lineup:
Ulreich; Mazraoui, Upamecano, Kim, Davies; Goretzka, Kimmich; Sane, Gnabry, Coman; Kane
We say: Borussia Monchengladbach 1-4 Bayern Munich
Having finished outside the top half in each of the last two seasons, Gladbach appear to be a club in decline, especially with their amount of injuries at present.
As such, we believe their unbeaten record against Bayern will come to a convincing end on Saturday, with Kane likely to be licking his lips at the prospect of adding to his impressive goal scoring tally already.
