Bottom of the Bundesliga Hertha Berlin head to the Allianz Arena on Sunday and must prepare for a vengeful Bayern Munich. Bayern recently gave up their top spot in last week’s unprecedented 1-3 defeat to 7th place Mainz.
Both teams have everything to play for; Hertha Berlin, although sitting bottom of the table, are just six points shy of safety and four points from the relegation playoffs. International giants Bayern however, will want to reclaim what they would see as their rightful place atop the Bundesliga table, having led for the majority of the season, they now sit just behind long-standing competitive rival, Borussia Dortmund. Hertha Berlin’s form has been disastrous of late, picking up a meagre two points from their previous five Bundesliga matches and causing them to plummet to the bottom of the pack, whereas Bayern’s form has been somewhat mixed given their reputation, with three wins, two losses and a draw from their last five.
Both teams have relatively fresh management, especially Hertha Berlin where Hungarian Pál Dárdai has returned for his consecutive 3rd spell in charge to try and save the capital club from impending doom. Bayern Boss Thomas Tuchel hasn’t been with the club for too long either having joined the Bavarian club in late March. He inherits a squad that is not without controversy; although the infamous bust-up between wingers Sadio Mane and Leroy Sane will live long in the memory of Bayern fans, they seemed to have papered over the cracks of their differences and both returned to the playing field in recent weeks and we could expect to see both to start in a fixture where Bayern will expect to score goals.
Goals have been hard to come by this season for Hertha, and they may well be without their recent addition Stevan Jovetic, who managed to net an impressive three goals in his first five appearances for his new club with one assist. Hertha Berlin’s most likely source of productivity in front of goal will come from right winger and attacking midfielder Marco Richter, his remarkable story of beating testicular cancer in a few short months before returning to action has cemented Richter as a hero across the Bundesliga and his performances have been amongst his sides best this season so far. The physical presence and big game experience of Kevin-Prince Boateng should provide a boost for Hertha in this fixture and as we all know, Kevin has performed in big games many times before, although the Ghanaian has been nursing a groin injury.
Hertha Berlin will struggle to field their strongest eleven for this game, as they will be without midfielders Ivan Sunjic, Suat Serdar and defensive mainstay Marc-Oliver Kempf who are all undergoing suspension. They will most likely be without Marco Richter, Marton Dardai, and Kelian Nsona who are all injury doubts.
Bayern are settling into life this season without Manuel Neuer and Lucas Hernandez, and the issues facing Alphonso Davies and Eric Choupo-Moting mean we may not see them before the end of the season.
Viewers in the UK can catch the action on Sky GO Extra and on Sky Sports Football.
Expert Insight: It is hard to look past Bayern Munich for this game, especially at home and knowing that Dortmund dropped points at Bochum earlier this week, this is an excellent opportunity to take all three points and make a statement to their rivals. Expect Hertha Berlin to focus on damage limitation and to find space on the counter, with the next couple of games in mind being the more likely ones to seal their fate.