Augsburg vs. Bayern preview: The Bavarian derby

Augsburg host a tired and injured Bayern Munich side at what will be a sold-out WWK arena on Saturday afternoon.

Augsburg

Augsburg are coming off a big second-half comeback win over Gladbach last weekend to move closer to the top half of the table. It was a needed boost, as the smaller-town Bavarians hadn’t won in their previous four league contests.

Frankfurt loanee Kristijan Jakic made his first appearance on Matchday 18, but it’s unclear if he or even Niklas Dorsch will start in midfield. Trainer Jess Thorup seems to have decided on a front two of Ermedin Demirovic and Phillip Tietz, as Dion Beljo still hasn’t scored a goal since September.

In his Thursday presser, Thorup said, “Of course we also look at the opponent – yesterday I watched (Bayern’s) game against Union. But, the most important thing for me is to look at our own strengths. We want to bring (Bayern) onto the pitch.”

Team News

Dorsch is available once again, while Reece Oxford and Raphael Framberger are expected to remain out.

Bayern

Following a disastrous loss to Werder Bremen last weekend, Bayern narrowly defeated Union Berlin 1-0 on Wednesday. Saturday’s fixture is a quick turnaround for the injury-riddled record champions, who have lost on their last two trips to the Fuggerstadt.

Youngster Aleksandar Pavlovic will likely receive another start this weekend alongside Leon Goretzka in midfield. Eric Dier should play from the off in center defense alongside Matthijs de Ligt, while Kingsley Coman or Raphael Guerreiro will play at right-back with no other healthy options available.

Now even on games, Bayern need to win against Augsburg in order to potentially keep within four points of Leverkusen, who they will face on February 10th.

Following their win over Union, Thomas Tuchel said, “I have no problem with the game. We played very carefully and were very disciplined. We had good chances to score, but we lacked some precision. We didn’t allow any counterattacks at all and we had the game under control. Overall, it was okay.”

Team News

Joshua Kimmich is ruled out with a minor shoulder injury. Konrad Laimer is out for six weeks with a calf injury, while Dayot Upamecano can’t play for around 2-3 weeks due to a muscle injury.

They join a lengthy injury list that already includes Daniel Peretz, Tarek Buchmann, Bouna Sarr, Noussair Mazraoui and Serge Gnabry. Kim Min-jae is off on national team duty.

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