German Champions Favourites in Season Opener

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Defending Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich will kick-off the new German top-flight season and the defence of their title at home against Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayern Munich have dominated German football in recent years and have won the Bundesliga for the last five seasons straight. In fact, since 1998/99, Bayern Munich have won the Bundesliga a total of thirteen times, with only four other teams being successful.

Carlo Ancelotti knows he is expected to lead the club to another Bundesliga title this season but must do so without the influence of Philipp Lahm, a player who has helped Bayern Munich enormously during their recent reign at the top.

Both Lahm and Xabi Alonso have retired from football and this means Bayern Munich have a lost a great deal of experience over the summer.  It will now be up to the likes of Manuel Neuer, Mats Hummels, Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben to guide the team through the campaign with their experience.

Bayern Munich will start their campaign with a match against Bayer Leverkusen and must improve on their performances in pre-season.  The German champions suffered poor defeats at the hands of AC Milan, Inter Milan, Liverpool and Napoli.

However, they have started the competitive season by defeating Borussia Dortmund on penalties in the German Super Cup and Chemnitzer FC 5-0 in the DFB Pokal first round.

Bayer Leverkusen won only one of their pre-season matches and required extra-time in their DFB Pokal match last weekend at Karlsruhe.  The match finished 0-0 after 90 minutes and Bayer Leverkusen scored 3 goals without reply in extra-time to seal their place in the second round.

Having finished in 12th place last season, Bayer Leverkusen will start with a new man in the dugout for this campaign.  Heiko Herrlich, the former Jahn Regensburg manager will hope to guide Bayer Leverkusen back to the European qualifying places this season.

However, he could not have asked for a more difficult assignment on the opening day of the season.

You must go back twenty-three Bundesliga matches to find the last time Bayern Munich lost a home match, which was against Mainz in February 2016.  Since then, Bayern Munich have won seventeen games, drawing five and have scored at least one goal in every single match.

Bayer Leverkusen finished last season with a 6-2 win at Hertha Berlin but won only two of their final seven away Bundesliga games, keeping a clean sheet in one of their last ten matches on the road.

Looking at the team news and Bayern Munich are expected to be without Manuel Neuer, James Rodriguez and Juan Bernat. Jerome Boateng, Arjen Robben and Thiago are all back in training but may have to settle for a place on the bench.

Tin Jedvaj and Stefan Kießling are struggling to make it for the visitors but Sven and Lars Bender should be available to start the match.

You must go back thirty-six Bundesliga home games to find the last time Bayern Munich failed to score a goal.  It seems very unlikely Bayer Leverkusen are going to keep them out.  Bayer Leverkusen have won one of their previous twenty-seven meetings with Bayern in Munich and it is very unlikely they will leave the Allianz Arena with anything on Friday night.

Expect Bayern Munich to win this one with a little bit to spare.