Bayern Munich: Five things to watch for against Arminia Bielefeld

Bayern Munich will look to bounce back from a 2-1 loss to Augsburg against Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday. The league leaders saw their four-point advantage at the top of the Bundesliga table reduced to one point following the shock defeat away from home. With a big match against second-place Borussia Dortmund looming, a win against Arminia Bielefeld is crucial for Bayern in the title race. Here are five things to watch for ahead of the match.

Arminia Bielefeld look to earn a result against Bayern once more

The last meeting between these two clubs ended in a 3-3 draw as Bayern had to come back from a two-goal deficit to earn a point at the Allianz Arena. The visitors led 2-0 at halftime and three goals in a 21-minute span from Robert Lewandowski, Corentin Tolisso, and Alphonso Davies were needed for Bayern to take a point away from the match. Although Arminia Bielefeld is not among the top clubs in the Bundesliga thus far in the current term, they showed last season in the aforementioned match that they can play with Bayern and take a positive result away from their meeting with one of Europe’s top clubs.

Lewandowski’s goal streak

In his last five Bundesliga appearances, Robert Lewandowski has scored seven goals with at least one goal being scored in each of those five appearances. On Saturday, he will have the opportunity to extend his goal-scoring streak to six matches which would be his longest scoring streak to date in this season’s Bundesliga campaign. He scored three goals in two appearances against Arminia Bielefeld last season.

Interception watch

Bayern will have to be careful in possession on Saturday as Arminia Bielefeld is averaging 14.2 interceptions per game. This is the second-highest average in the league and has been one of the stronger defensive statistics Arminia Bielefeld has posted this season.

Thomas Muller assist streak

Muller has recorded seven assists in his last five Bundesliga appearances to take over as the league’s top assist leader with nine total assists. He will have the opportunity to not only extend his assist streak to six matches but he will also reach the ten assist mark in just 13 matches. Muller recorded one assist in two appearances against Arminia Bielefeld last season.

Possession heavy

Bayern should have the majority of the possession in this match and it might be a higher possession percentage than usual as Arminia Bielefeld rank 17th in the Bundesliga in average possession at 38.8%. They have registered possession percentages of 35% and 38% in their last two matches. Bayern will have to ensure they generate opportunities with any extra possession than usual they might receive as Arminia Bielefeld was able to take positive results away from those two most recent matches where they registered less than 40% of the possession.