Bayern Munich vs Werder Bremen preview: Munich look to extended their lead at the top of the Bundesliga standings | OneFootball

Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich has been flying high this season, and they’ve only gotten better since the turn of the new year.

They’ve won all of their last five contests in the league, scoring 18 goals in the process. While some of these wins ended up only being by a one-goal margin, those scorelines are deceptive since they’ve conceded some ultimately pointless goals late on.

This was the case last weekend. Munich went up 4-0 at home to Holstein Kiel, grabbing three goals in the span of nine minutes. Things did end up getting scary as the opposition pulled it back to 4-3 in stoppage time, but they held on to secure the three points.

Summer signing Michael Olise has hit the ground running in the Bundesliga, with 13 goal contributions to his name. Young phenom Jamal Musiala has also been key, only having one less than his teammate. They’ve fed star striker Harry Kane very well, and he has a league-leading tally of 19 goals.

If Bayern can play at the levels they have been this season, then this could be a routine night at the Allianz Arena. Vincent Kompany has his side at the top of the league standings in his first season. They’re six points clear going into this week, and there’s a chance their challengers Bayer Leverkusen could drop points following their exhaustive DFB Pokal efforts in midweek.

Munich will have to get the job done here first, though.

Team NewsAlphonso Davies will be the biggest miss for Bayern, but they’ll also be without summer signing Hiroki Ito and goalkeeper Daniel Peretz.

Werder Bremen

This is one of those games where Werder Bremen are simply playing with house money.

Their last contest ended up in a massive victory, beating European rivals Mainz 1-0. However, it also ended in a controversy that will affect them this time around. In stoppage time, Bremen had two of their centerbacks sent off, and at full time manager Ole Werner also saw red.

It was a stunning showing from the referee, and his loss of composure then will impact Werder here since all three of those names will be suspended. Captain Marco Friedl was one of the two defenders, and he’s the most important player when it comes to the back three. Niklas Stark was also dismissed, and supporters would probably rank him as the team's second best defender, if not above Friedl.

To make things even worse, fellow centerback Anthony Jung left the Mainz game early due to injury. It’s unclear who will even feature for Werder at the back. Having that level of uncertainty against any side is asking for trouble, but to have that versus a league-leading and free-scoring Munich outfit is another thing altogether.

Even if they weren’t going through a crisis at the back, this would still be a massive test for Bremen. They’ve been an inconsistent team this campaign, and there’s been a few games where they aren’t up to standard. If they play like that this Friday, then they’ll be in real trouble.

You only have to look back at last September when Bayern came to the Weserstadion and scored five. It was far too easy, and the Green-Whites looked like they weren’t close to challenging a team near the top of the standings.

Then again, Werder’s last trip to Munich was a lovely one for them as they stunningly won 1-0. If they can put on a performance like that once again, they might manage to steal three massive points in their fight for Europe.

Team NewsThe aforementioned Friedl and Stark are suspended, while the likes of Julian Malatini, Keke Topp, and Leonardo Bittencourt are all dealing with various injuries that will rule them out going into Friday.