Bayern Munich vs Augsburg

Bayern Munich’s 2023/24 Bundesliga home campaign gets underway this weekend as they welcome below-par Augsburg at the Allianz Arena.

Despite slumping to a humiliating 3-0 defeat to RB Leipzig in the DFL-Supercup showpiece a fortnight ago, Bayern Munich got their title-defending Bundesliga campaign off to a flyer. Harry Kane scored on his league debut as the 11-time-consecutive German champions dismantled Werder Bremen 4-0 last weekend. Back to the Allianz Arena, where they’ve lost their last two competitive outings, the ‘Bavarians’ stare down the barrel of three straight home league defeats for the first time since 1977. However, that’s an unlikely scenario, considering Thomas Tuchel’s men have eased past Augsburg in their last four league meetings on home turf via an aggregate score of 13-5. Their formidable home record against this opposition suggests they could start a fourth successive Bundesliga season with a victory in their opening home game, winning the last three by a combined score of 13-2.

On the other hand, perennial bottom-half strugglers Augsburg barely secured top-flight survival last term, finishing 15th in the table, despite going winless in 13 Bundesliga away games on the trot toward the end of the 2022/23 campaign (D3, L10). Augsburg’s travel sickness caught up with them at the start of the new season as they shockingly lost to lower-league Unterhaching 2-0 in the first DFB-Pokal round. But Enrico Maasen’s side fought back from a two-goal deficit twice to hold Borussia Monchengladbach to a breathtaking 4-4 draw on the opening weekend, matching the joint-highest opening-day fixture in Bundesliga history. Another high-scoring contest could be on the cards, considering Augsburg’s most recent Bundesliga visit to the Allianz Arena yielded an eight-goal thriller (3-5).