Bundesliga: Why The ‘New Normal’ Could Be The Same Old For Bayern

Bayern Munich vs Eintracht Frankfurt

The champions are back at home and, while the ‘new normal’ may provide a very different backdrop from their last competitive action in the Allianz Arena, I expect the result and ultimate outcome will be a familiar one.

In the week goalkeeper Manuel Neuer extended his contract with Bayern Munich, signing a deal which ties him to club until 2023, they are on course for an eight successive title and, in Neuer’s case, an eighth in nine seasons.

As well as creating plenty of Bundesliga highlights, they have a four point lead over Borussia Dortmund at the summit of the German top-flight and are scoring for fun.

Read on and you’ll see why Eintracht Frankfurt can’t be looking forward to this one.

Talking Points

For a start, they showed no pressure under the spotlight to return to winning ways in their first competitive fixture since the coronavirus pandemic stopped play in March.

They notched their 49th and 50th Bundesliga goals under head coach Hansi Flick in their 2-0 win over Union Berlin to create league history last Sunday.

In his 16 games in charge in the league, Bayern have hit 50 goals at an average of 3.1 goals per game – the best ratio of any head coach in the league’s 57 year history.

Robert Lewandowski looks set to become the Bundesliga top scorer for the fifth time at the end of the season — Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski scored their first goal against Union Berlin

Inevitably, it was Robert Lewandowski who opened the scoring, slotting home from the penalty spot to reach 26 league goals for the season. The Pole has scored 12 of those 50 goals under Flick and with his goal, became only the second player in the league’s history, alongside Bayern legend Gerd Müller, to reach 26 goals from 26 matches in a single campaign.

Overall, it’s now 16 competitive matches unbeaten for Bayern, of which 12 have been in the Bundesliga (11 wins). And despite continuing their impressive streak, Bayern stars want it to be known that they can get even better.

On the team news front, Flick will be without Philippe Coutinho and Corentin Tolisso as they continue to nurse ankle injuries following their respective surgeries.

Niklas Sule is back in training following his recovery from a long-term knee injury but he’s unlikely to start. A decision will also need to be made about Javi Martinez’s fitness.

Frankfurt will be without Gonçalo Paciência – who impressed as a substitute last weekend – due to a thigh strain, while Dominik Kohr is suspended.

Andre Silva is set for a starting berth up top after coming off the bench to score last time out and this will likely see Bas Dost drop down to the bench.

Adi Hütter’s side are 13th in the table but only five points adrift of the relegation play-off place so are in desperate need of an upsurge in form and points as they head into what may well be a quick-fire conclusion to the campaign.

In their favour, Eintracht are one of only four teams to have beaten Bayern this season.

On the downside, the Eagles have the worst away record in the league, taking just seven points from a possible 36, and have lost their last 10 trips to Munich in a row.

So, who is your money on?

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Bundesliga

History

Until earlier this season, Frankfurt had been winless in their last 17 Bundesliga meetings with Bayern since beating the record champions 2-1 in March 2010. However, they have not won in Munich since November 2000.

There have been a total of 102 fixtures between the two sides and Bayern have been dominant.

The Bavarians have 53 wins and 22 draws in the Bundesliga, while Die Adler have come out on top on just 21 occasions.

Last season, this fixture was a party time for Bayern as they said auf wiedersehen with style as they clinched a seventh successive Bundesliga title.

Betting Tip

	Bayern Munich vs Eintracht Frankfurt	Bayern Munich First Half Asian Handicap -1.00 @ 1.98
	May 24, 00:30 (GMT+8)

Based on the first weekend back, this is a home banker if ever I saw one.

Bayern appeared to merely flex their muscles in their opening return last weekend, while Frankfurt were distinctly second best at home to Borussia Monchengladbach.

In truth, they never recovered from going two goals down inside the opening seven minutes.

I have to tip a home win here; even more so given that revenge will be on the minds of the home players after their thrashing at the same opponents earlier this season.

As you’d expect, they are heavily backed with the Bundesliga SBOBET betting odds with 1X2 Bayern @ 1.16, Asian Handicap -2.50 Bayern @ 2.14 and even plenty of goals (presumably for Bayern) – over 4.00 goals – offered @ 2.12.