Bundesliga: Kovac Takes on his Former Employers

VfL Wolfsburg vs Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga title defence continues on Wednesday when they head to Wolfsburg to take on Niko Kovac’s Europe chasers. 

This match is a re-union for the Wolfsburg head coach who managed Die Bayern back in 2019 and is in his second season as the Wolves’ boss. He left Munich by mutual consent after the Bavarians were beaten 5-1 by Eintracht Frankfurt, an ordeal matched by current Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel only last week.

Bayern have recovered from that shock result with a win in the Champions League and then a league victory over VfB Stuttgart in the league, while Wolfsburg won away to Darmstadt to end a run of three consecutive defeats. Kovac led the Wolves to an eighth placed finish last season and he has designs on a European place this term.

A result against his former employers would do his current team no harm at all and it would certainly give Kovac a wonderful Wednesday night.  

Talking Points

Record breaker Kane just keeps on scoring  

Bayern’s clash with high flying Stuttgart was a chance to wipe away the painful memory of a 5-1 defeat to Frankfurt last week. The Bavarians did get a narrow Champions League victory away to Manchester United on Wednesday but their performance against VfB was superb. The 3-0 victory took them to within four points of Bundesliga league leaders Bayer Leverkusen, and the Bundesliga 2023 betting odds back Tuchel’s team to win the title for a record 12^th consecutive year.

After managing for a season without a prolific striker, following the departure of Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona, it looks like the Bavarians have struck gold with their signing of Harry Kane, and he made it 20 for the campaign with a well taken brace in the win over Stuttgart on Sunday. Kane scored his first within two minutes, tapping in from close range after his strike partner Leroy Sane squared. Bayern could have won by a bigger margin but Thomas Muller and Min-Jae Kim were denied by VAR, though Kane headed the second and Kim added a third midway through the second half.      

Kane is one of the SBOTOP picks for the 2024 Ballon D’Or and with 20 goals already he will be right up there if he keeps his momentum. He became the third player in Bundesliga history to score 20 before the mid-season mark and I wouldn’t back against him scoring 40 in his first campaign in Germany.

But opponents can’t just take care of Kane; they also have Sane to worry about and winger Jamal Musiala who was in electric form against Stuttgart.

Wolves have Wind at their backs

A 1-0 win over Darmstadt thanks to a Lovro Majer goal lifted the Wolves up to ninth place and within sight of the leading pack. The assist came from Danish striker Jonas Wind, who is top scoring with nine goals while no other player has scored more than one. Ten other Wolfsburg players have scored this season so the goals can come from anywhere, but half of them come from Wind.  

At 24 years of age and with eight goals in 22 games for Denmark Wind has a bright future, he’s a clever player with superb timing and vision and, at 6ft 3in, he’s strong in the air and a handful for any defence. His countryman Joakim Maehle, plays at wing back and has a fine delivery; but Maehle may have more defensive duties to perform against Bayern’s star studded attack. Kovac will need to shuffle his pack as French defender Maxence Lacroix is forced to sit this one out after he received his marching orders in the win over Darmstadt.   

History

With 47 wins to five and seven draws the Bavarians have dominated Wolfsburg over the past 25 years and last season Bayern won this match 4-2 as Kingsley Coman scored a brace, with Musiala and Muller were both on target.

Wolfsburg’s Bundesliga 2023 results have been inconsistent to say the least, the Wolves have two wins and four losses over the past six games while Bayern won four, drew one and lost one.  

Betting Tip

Bayern are hot favourites to win in Wolfsburg at a price of 1.34, while the hosts can be backed at 5.70 and the draw is at 4.93.

I’m taking a risk here and with Kane and Wind on the pitch a goal is never far away, but I have an inkling there will be three goals and the value is in a bet on Under 3.50.

 

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