The German Bundesliga returns this weekend with 9 fixtures across Germany.
Defending champions Bayern Munich will be at home to Mainz in what should be a straight forward affair for the Bavarians.
After a shock 2-2 draw at home to Hertha Berlin on opening day, Bayern resumed business as usual, dispatching Schalke 04 3-0 away from home.
Robert Lewandowski has pretty much been doing it all alone as he has scored all of Bayern’s five goals this season.
Despite winning 3-0 last weekend, Bayern have looked fragile at the back and it will be an area of concern going into Saturday’s encounter.
Nico Kovac has tinkered with his starting central defence partnership in the first two games as he played Nikolas Sule and Benjamin Paverd against Hertha and then paired the former with Lucas Hernandez in game two.
With the combination having secured a clean sheet against Schalke, Sule and Hernandez are expected to be maintained for a second game running.
In the middle, marque signing Philip Coutinho is expected to make his full debut after securing a move from Barcelona last Monday. The Brazilian came off the bench last week and impressed.
For Mainz, they are in dare need of points already, having lost their first two games.
A 3-0 loss at Freiburg was followed up with a 3-1 loss at home to Borrusia Monchengladbach and Sandro Schwarz’s sided are already in danger of topping the book-makers list of relegation favorites.
Results are not coming and their sick-bay is already filled up with up to six first-teamers currently nursing injuries.
This looks like a forward win for Bayern who have beaten Mainz in all four of their last head to head meetings.
As Bayern will be trying to secure easy points at home, rivals Dortmund will be away to newly-promoted Union Berlin.
Dortmund have hit the ground running this season, winning all of their first two games, scoring an impressive 8 goals whilst conceding just twice in the process.
On opening weekend, they humiliated Augsburg 5-1 before coming from a goal down to defeat Koln 3-1.
Their front three of Jordan Sancho, Paco Alcacer and Marco Reus are all in good form and will be expected to lead the Black and Yellows to a perfect 9 points from three games.
Union Berlin on the other hand are yet to win a Bundesliga game since attaining promotion three months ago.
The debutants have lost 4-0 at home to RB Leipzig and scrapped to a 1-1 draw away to Augsburg last weekend.
Three points of Dortmund may be a dream but if Berlin can at least get a point in the game, it may be the inspiration they require to kick-start their bid to survive an instant return to the second tier.
The Bundesliga will kick-off on Friday with a mouth-watering fixture pitting Monchengladbach at home to high-flying RB Leipzig.
Gladbach bounced back from a disappointing Match-Day 1 draw at home to Schalke as they defeated Mainz 3-1 away from home.
However, they are set to be without six players including captain Lars Stindl for the visit of a Leipzig side that has so far won all their games this season.
Julian Nagelsmann’s side beat Union Berlin 4-1 and then Frankfurt 2-1 and will be favourites for a win on Friday.
All the German Bundesliga Match-Day 3 fixtures
Friday, 30-08-2019
-Gladbach vs Leipzig @9:30pm
Saturday, 31-08-2019
-Bayern vs Mainz @4pm
-Leverkusen vs Hoffenheim @4pm
-Wolfsburg vs Paderborn @4pm
-Freiburg vs Koln @4pm
-Schalke vs Hertha Berlin @4pm
-Union Berlin vs Dortmund @7:30pm
Sunday, 01-09-2019
-Bremen vs Augsburg @4pm
-Frankfurt vs Dusseldorf @7pm
