Bundesliga action gets underway on Friday night with the battle for European places and the struggle to avoid relegation providing the entertainment in the absence of any real title race.

Hoffenheim begin a new era having sacked their manager, Alfred Schreuder, after a wretched run of form with Marcel Rapp being given the job on a caretaker basis, and he couldn’t face much more of a difficult task in his first fixture as manager against RB Leipzig.

Saturday evening sees Bayern Munich look to take another step towards their inevitable Bundesliga coronation and could make it 10 wins in a row against a Monchengladbach side chasing Champions League football next season.

The weekend’s action comes to a conclusion on Sunday and sees a number of teams struggling for form at the wrong end of the table meet as Schalke look to make it back-to-back wins against Leverkusen and Mainz, desperate in their effort to beat the drop, face Augsburg.

Hoffenheim v RB Leipzig
Friday
19:30

With only four games remaining and 11 points between Leipzig and League leaders Bayern Munich the title race for Leipzig seems to be decided, but they still aren’t guaranteed a Champions League spot and maximum points can put some pressure on Monchengladbach and Levurkusen who are just 3 points behind.

Hoffenheim are still fighting for a Europa League spot next year and will definitely put up a fight and their competitive spirit cannot be in doubt after turning around a 1-0 deficit to a win with 10-men in their last fixture against Dusseldorf.

RB Leipzig have been inconsistent of late and they are coming off of a disappointing draw against bottom side Paderborn but could still prove too much for a side coming to terms with anew manager.

Prediction: RB Leipzig to Win & Both Teams to Score

Wolfsburg v Freiburg
Saturday
14:30

Wolfsburg are clear favourites going into this one and currently occupy a Europa league spot, while Freiberg have just picked up their first win since the resumption, and what a win that was as they beat 4^th place Monchengladbach while keeping a clean sheet in the process.

The visitors are only 4 points behind Wolfsburg and a win will put them in a three-horse race for 6^th place, so things can get very interesting if they are to repeat their victory in the reverse fixture, though Wolfsburg have been on solid form recently and will take some breaking down.

Prediction:  1^st Half Score 1-0

Dusseldorf v Dortmund
Saturday
14:30

Dortmund are currently sitting 7 points behind league leaders Bayern Munich and unless we have any big surprises the Bavarians will be crowned champions for the 29^th time, though Dortmund will, of course, fight until the end and their last two matches have shown this.

They will be playing before Bayern and 3 points could put some pressure on the leaders so expect Dortmund to come out firing on all cylinders while Dusseldorf will be fighting hard to avoid relegation; showing grit in their last 2-2 Draw against Hoffenheim.

They possibly deserved more but their record against the top 4 isn’t exactly great and their last match against Dortmund ended in a 5-0 trashing.

Prediction: Dortmund to lead after 15 minutes

Hertha Berlin v Eintracht Frankfurt
Saturday
14:30

Not a lot to play for in this fixture as both teams are some way off a European place, though Hertha have the chance to pull off a late comeback as the gap between them and 6^th place is now just 7 points compared to the 10 point deficit that Frankfurt are looking at.

Form suggests that Berlin will have the edge here as, since the league resumption, they have been impressive, especially in defence, conceding only 3 goals in 5 matches and all 3 came against top 4 teams.

Eintracht seemed to have picked themselves up from a bad patch with 2 straight wins against Werder and Wolfsburg; only to self-destruct against Mainz last week, though their attacking potential means there is every chance of goals in this one.

Prediction: Hertha Berlin to Win & Over 3.5 goals

Cologne v Union Berlin
Saturday
14:30

Only 3 points separate these two sides and both don’t have a lot to play for, though Union Berlin might have a bit more to lose as they are only 4 points above the relegation zone and all the bottom teams will be fighting for their lives in the last few matches.

Both teams are coming off of respectable draws and neither have won since the resumption of the league, meaning everything points to a Draw, but Union might just have enough to squeeze a win as they did when these two sides last met.

Prediction: Union Berlin to Win

Paderborn v Werder Bremen
Saturday
14:30

The bottom two teams face off with Werder Bremen having a glimmer of a chance to save a disappointing season by avoiding relegation in the last seconds, while Paderborn have been fighting valiantly but an 8 point deficit should be too much to make up in the four matches they have remaining.

They impressively held RB Leipzig to a 1-1 draw in their last match and will again put a fight. This will be a highly unpredictable match where nothing is guaranteed except that this one will be hard-fought, expect Werder to have a bit more fight in them and this might give them an edge.

Prediction: Werder Bremen to Win

Bayern Munich v Monchengladbach
Saturday
17:30

Bayern have been in unstoppable form of late and have picked up 9 straight wins while to say that Monchengladbach have been inconsistent would be something of an understatement.

Bayern need to lose their next three games to make the run-in interesting, while Monchengladbach need points in order to play the Champions League next season and even though the hosts missing Robert Lewandowski due to suspension, an upset looks highly unlikely.

Prediction: Monchengladbach to win either half

Mainz v Augsburg
Sunday
14 :30

Mainz are fresh off of 3 very precious points against Eintracht Frankfurt, which put in a gap of 3 points between them and relegation playoff place, but they are not safe yet and they will be looking for more points against Augsburg who are in identical position just 1 point above them.

Both teams have been uninspiring throughout the season and again this should prove to be another scrap with the outcome being tough to predict, though it’s worth noting that the reverse fixture ended in a 2-1 win for Augsburg.

Prediction: Draw

Schalke v Leverkusen
Sunday
17:30

Not a lot to say in this one as we have a team fighting for a Champions League spot against the team with the worst form of the league who have picked up just 1 point since the resumption and scoring only twice whilst conceding 11.

Kai Havertz will be back in the Leverkusen line-up after missing the last match due to injury and could prove to be the difference in an otherwise uninspiring encounter.

Prediction:  Kai Havertz to Score 2 or more

Bundesliga Fixtures in Full

FRIDAY 12th JUNE

Hoffenheim v RB Leipzig

SATURDAY 13th JUNE

Koln v Union Berlin
Dusseldorf v Dortmund
Hertha Berlin v Frankfurt
Paderborn v Werder Bremen
Wolfsburg v Freiburg
Bayern v Gladbach

SUNDAY 14th JUNE

Mainz v Augsburg
Schalke v Leverkusen

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