Bayern Munich face Mainz in the Bundesliga on Saturday afternoon with the hope of closing the ten-point gap at the top of the league ahead of Bayer 04's match on Sunday.
Match Overview
Bayern Munich
Bayern head into this Bundesliga tie following a mood-lifting 3-0 victory at the Allianz Arena against Lazio in the Champions League.
Harry Kane provided yet another two goals for the Bavarians as they proceeded to the quarter finals of the European competition.
In terms of recent form in this fixture, Bayern have the upper hand as they have won their last six games against Mainz at the Allianz Arena.
Bayern Munich youngster Jamal Musiala has three goal contributions in his last five games against Saturday's opponents.
Also, Bayern's talisman Harry Kane has more goals (27) than the entire Mainz team (16). The only other sides he has more goals than are Union Berlin, Darmstadt and Köln.
Ahead of Saturday's game, Thomas Tuchel said: "We haven't handed over the title. There's an area between giving up and a statement of intent - and that's called reality. The gap is very big. That's realistic. For us it's about being more stable and finding new stability."
Mainz 05
Mainz were unlucky last time out as they threw away a 1-0 lead in the second half to draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
The major issue for the carnival side this season has been the goals scored. Only Köln (16) have scored fewer than Mainz's nineteen strikes this campaign in the Bundesliga.
Ludovic Ajorque has struggled with goals this campaign and has only scored two in the league this season. Last campaign, his form saw him score fix in six games towards the latter stages of Mainz's Bundesliga season.
In the Bundesliga, Mainz's last game against the record champions ended in a 3-1 home loss.
Ahead of the match with Bayern, newly-appointed Mainz coach Bo Henriksen said: "Bayern are a strong opponent. But as I’ve said before, stranger things have happened in football. They have a lot of individual quality in their team, but they’re not unbeatable."
Team News
Tarek Buchmann is suffering from a thigh injury so will miss the game. Kingsley Coman and Noussair Mazraoui are out with knee and hamstring injuries respectively. Coach Thomas Tuchel is wearing a boot on his foot following a toe injury but will be at the game.
Aleksandar Pavlović is serving a yellow card suspension and Bouna Sarr has a knee problem so is ruled out. Lastly, Sacha Boey is a doubt ahead of Saturday afternoon.
For Mainz, the following players will miss the game: Leandro Barreiro (yellow card suspension), Stefan Bell (illness), Dominik Kohr (red card suspension), Maxim Leitsch (muscular problem), Jessic Ngankam (red card suspension), Nelson Weiper (knee injury).
Finally, Edmilson Fernandes is a doubt for the tie.
Predicted Lineups
Neuer (c); Laimer, De Ligt, Kim, Davies; Kimmich, Goretzka; Sané, Müller, Musiala; Kane
Zentner; van den Berg, Guilavogui, Caci; Widmer (c), Krauß, Amiri, Mwene; Gruda, Burkardt, Lee
Match Result
'13 Harry Kane ⚽️
'20 Leon Goretzka ⚽️
'45+7 Harry Kane ⚽️
'47 Thomas Müller ⚽️
'61 Jamal Musiala ⚽️
'66 Serge Gnabry ⚽️
'70 Harry Kane ⚽️
'90+2 Leon Goretzka ⚽️
'31 Nadiem Amiri ⚽️