Bayern Munich will be looking to put their shock Champions League exit behind them when they travel to Arminia Bielefeld in the Bundesliga on Sunday afternoon.
The visitors are closing in on a 10th successive title domestically, whilst the hosts are in huge danger of dropping out of the division following a dreadful run of form.
Match preview
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Form, and confidence, could not be much worse at Bielefeld as we head into matchday 30 in the Bundesliga this weekend, with Sunday's hosts having lost five of the last six.
Just a single goal has been scored during their awful spell, and that was only enough to earn a draw against fellow strugglers Stuttgart.
Frank Kramer's side failed to build on that draw when they visited a struggling Wolfsburg at the Volkswagen Arena, with a humbling 4-0 defeat adding to their recent issues.
Fortunately for Die Arminen, all four of their direct relegation rivals around them in the table also tasted defeat last weekend, meaning they head into their clash with the league leaders in the relegation playoff spot of 16th, level on points with Hertha Berlin in the relegation zone, and just one point off Stuttgart in safety.
However, with the daunting visit of Bayern to the Schuco-Arena on Sunday, and with many of their fellow strugglers in action a day earlier, Bielefeld could well find themselves in deeper trouble come the end of the weekend.
A remarkable performance will be required for Kramer's men to pick up a result of any kind, but they will certainly take hope from the fact that they came so close to taking points off Bayern at the Allianz Arena back in November.
A strike from Leroy Sane in the 71st minute was all that separated the sides following a brave performance from the minnows, which followed the previous meeting in February of last year, when Bielefeld held the champions to a thrilling 3-3 draw on their own patch too.
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Meanwhile, following their disappointing exit from Europe to Villarreal on Tuesday, and a poor early exit from the DFB-Pokal back in October, the Bundesliga is all that Bayern have left to play for in the closing stages of the campaign.
Since the impressive 4-1 victory at high-flying Freiburg at the beginning of April, Julian Nagelsmann's side have looked lacklustre in their displays - a significant difference to their usual exceptional standards for much of the campaign.
The 1-0 defeat in Spain in the first leg of their quarter-final tie was the beginning of their dip in form, where despite attempting 22 shots on their opponent's goal, the Bavarians struggled to create many clear opportunities.
A similar pattern was on show when Bayern welcomed relegation-threatened Augsburg to the Allianz Arena in the league last weekend, although on this occasion, an 82nd-minute penalty from Robert Lewandowski spared their blushes to secure a narrow 1-0 victory.
That late goal ensured that Bayern's advantage at the top of the table remained at a healthy nine points, with numerous surprise slip-ups during the campaign going unpunished thanks to Borussia Dortmund's inconsistency.
With BVB in action on Saturday, that gap could be cut down to six points, and any further shocks at the Schuco-Arena on Sunday could well open up an opportunity for Dortmund to haul themselves back into the race for the title ahead of Der Klassiker next weekend.
Were Bayern to drop points at Bielefeld, it would perhaps be the biggest shock of them all over the past couple of weeks, but the champions do tend to bounce back to their magnificent best when doubts begin to creep in.
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Team News
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After being forced off during the first half of their 4-0 defeat due to concussion last weekend, Bielefeld full-back Cedric Brunner remains a doubt for the visit of Bayern on Sunday.
Nathan de Medina is in line to deputise should Brunner miss out, whilst Masaya Okugawa and Fabian Kunze are in line for starts after dropping to the bench at the Volkswagen Arena.
Fabian Klos remains on the sidelines due to a head injury, whilst Florian Kruger, Sebastian Vasiliadis and Vladislav Cherny are further doubts for Kramer to contend with.
As for the visitors, Alphonso Davies is in line to make his first Bundesliga start in four months during his phased return to the side following his heart problems.
Corentin Tolisso, Bouna Sarr and Eric Choupo-Moting are ruled out for the league leaders, whilst Niklas Sule remains a doubt due to a fever.
Jamal Musiala looks likely to make way for Davies in a reshuffle of the formation, and Kingsley Coman or Sane could drop out for Serge Gnabry should Nagelsmann opt to rotate his options in the wide areas.
Arminia Bielefeld possible starting lineup:
Ortega; De Medina, Pieper, Nilsson, Laursen; Prietl, Kunze, Schopf; Wimmer, Serra, Okugawa
Bayern Munich possible starting lineup:
Neuer; Pavard, Upamecano, Hernandez, Davies; Kimmich, Goretzka; Sane, Muller, Gnabry; Lewandowski
We say: Arminia Bielefeld 0-3 Bayern Munich
Despite Bayern's concerning drop off in performance levels in their last few outings, they should have no problems in seeing off a struggling Bielefeld side on Sunday.
The hosts are in freefall and the last thing they need at this time is the daunting visit of the league leaders, and it is difficult to see anything other than a comfortable win for the visitors to edge them closer to a 10th successive title.
Top tip
Matthew Tranter
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Bayern Munich win with a probability of 80.23%. A draw had a probability of 12.9% and a win for Arminia Bielefeld had a probability of 6.87%.
The most likely scoreline for a Bayern Munich win was 0-2 with a probability of 12.03%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-3 (11.04%) and 0-1 (8.74%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.09%), while for an Arminia Bielefeld win it was 1-0 (2.21%). The actual scoreline of 0-3 was predicted with an 11% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 0-3 win for Bayern Munich in this match and our data analysis correctly predicted the win for Bayern Munich.
