Bayern Munich: Three things to watch for against RB Leipzig

On Saturday, Bayern Munich will face their toughest test thus far of the 2021/22 Bundesliga season. Die Roten is traveling to RB Leipzig in search of all three points in a key match for the title race. Although it is still very early in the campaign, this match could create a seven-point gap between the two clubs if Die Roten is victorious. Saturday offers the defending champions the opportunity to put distance between themselves and the club who finished in second place last season. Here are three things to watch for ahead of Saturday’s big match.

Battle of the strikers

Two of Bundesliga’s top strikers will feature in this fixture. Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski and Leipzig’s Andre Silva are coming off of career-high campaigns and will be looking to add to their 2021/22 totals. Last season, Lewandowski registered 41 Bundesliga goals while Silva recorded 28 goals.

Three matches into the current campaign and Lewandowski is once again setting the early pace in the race for the league’s top scorer spot. With five goals in three matches, he is four goals ahead of Silva who has one goal in three appearances. On Saturday, both of these two players will be front and center as they should have opportunities come their way that will offer the chance to make a difference in the final outcome.

Lewandowski has scored seven goals against Leipzig in 11 appearances. This is the most goals scored by any Die Roten player against Die Rotten Bullen. Silva is yet to score against Rekordmeister in either the Bundesliga or DFB-Pokal.

More from Bayern Strikes

• Bayern Munich: Tactical takeaways from 2-2 draw against Bayer Leverkusen
• Bayern Munich: Kingsley Coman set to be fit for Manchester United clash
• Bayern Munich unlikely to move for Trevoh Chalobah in January
• Bayern Munich: Key lessons from draw against Bayer Leverkusen
• Bayern Munich remains keen on hiring Max Eberl

A difficult opponent

Five of the last six matches between Bayern and Leipzig have ended in draws. The last time Bayern defeated Leipzig twice in the same season was in the 2016/2017 campaign. Since then, Leipzig has taken at least a point away from one of their two matches each season against the defending champions.

Whenever Rekordmeister and Leipzig meet it has typically been a closely contested match. Only three of their last 12 meetings have seen Bayern win by a margin of two goals or more. Last season’s win for Bayern on Matchday 27 was a narrow 1-0 victory. (Stats courtesy: Fbref)

Julian Naglesmann faces his old club

It only took four matchdays for Bayern’s new manager to meet his old club. Having spent the last few seasons trying to figure out a way to get past Bayern, he will now be focused on getting all three points against Leipzig. Nagelsmann has thus far failed to meet defeat in the Bundesliga this season and he will be looking to continue Bayern’s undefeated record on Saturday.

His former club has not had the best start to the campaign with defeats in two of their opening three fixtures but he will know better than anyone that Leipzig are capable of producing a convincing performance in front of their home supporters. Leipzig scored four goals in a 4-0 victory over Stuttgart the last time they played at Red Bull Arena.