Bundesliga Match Day 25: Preview and Forecast

The marquee match-up in the Bundesliga this weekend is the fixture between Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig; two teams who have achieved mild success this season, while still disappointing their fans.

Dortmund, of late, has been much better as the tutelage of Peter Stoger has at least awaken the Black and Yellows from their early season doldrums. The arrival of striker Michy Batshuayi has ignited Dortmund a bit, but the combination of Mario Gotze, Marco Reus, and Andre Schurrle aka Bro-russia Dortmund (HEY-O) has been a driving force behind the recent uptick for the Black and Yellows.

Leipzig, meanwhile, has been on a roller coaster ride with more dips than peaks. From week to week, Ralph Hasenhüttl has no idea which Leipzig squad will show up and the once sturdy back line has been awful to say the least.

Dortmund is unbeaten in its last nine Bundesliga and Europa league matches, while Leipzig has four losses in the same stretch. The feeling here (judging by our record, you should have zero confidence!) is that Dortmund wins this one in an entertaining contest

Prediction: Borussia Dortmund 3, RB Leipzig 2.

Borussia Monchengladbach 2, Werder Bremen 1: M'Gladbach finally snapped a four game losing streak last week with a win over Hannover 96, while Werder Bremen has won two of its last three contests. It will not be an easy task for M'Gladbach, but we feel like it's time for Thorgan Hazard and the fellas to build a little momentum. We aren't sleeping on the improved play of Bremen, however. Bremen has been really solid of late with Max Kruse as a consistent threat.

Hoffenheim 2, Augsburg 1: Hoffenheim needs to be better than it has been and should be able to outlast Augsburg. Hoffenheim has just been really disappointing, frankly. It's time for them to focus and get moving.

Eintracht Frankfurt 2, Hannover 96 1: The Eagles were upended by Stuttgart last week, while Hannover remained the pest of the Bundesliga in a loss against M'Gladbach. Frankfurt has been an impressive group this season and should be able to get back on track this week, but Hannover NEVER makes anything easy on its opposition. We expect this to be a tight one that the Eagles ultimately pull out in the second half.

Mainz 2, Hamburger SV 1: This is an official RELEGATION DANGER ZONE battle. Mainz has been better of late, while Hamburger is still scuffling along. Yoshinori Muto has been red-hot for Mainz and this may be a good opportunity to stay that way for the Japanese international.

Schalke 04 1, Hertha Berlin 0: Last week HSC Berlin played an extremely conservative style to walk out of Munich with a 0-0 draw vs. Bayern, while Schalke best Leverkusen 2-0 as the Blues held a man-advantage for the majority of the match. Schalke, however, is a bit banged up and under-manned itself this week, which makes it a more difficult prospect. This will likely be one of those games, we regret picking when writing the Wrap-Up on Monday.

Bayer Leverkusen 3, Wolfsburg 0: Leverkusen is coming off a tough loss to Schalke, but should be poised for a big rebound vs. a Wolves side that is in shambles. This seems like the perfect time for Kevin Volland, Leon Bailey, Julian Brandt and the rest of Leverkusen to put on an offensive display.

Stuttgart 3, FC Koln 2: This game is pretty fascinating, especially when considering how horrendous starts to the season have hampered both clubs. Regardless, each squad is playing with more emotion, confidence, and heaping amounts of resilience in the face of being among the league's bottom half. Koln needs this win more and had been a respectable side since ditching Peter Stoger, but we really like the way Stuttgart in this one based on how reinvigorated they have played of late. Let's pencil in Mario Gomez for a goal in this one.

Bayern Munich 3, SC Freiburg 0: Bayern will play this one without a true left wing (Kingsley Coman's ankle injury and Franck Ribery's illness leave the spot open) and Jupp Heynckes has already indicated he may give Thiago a shot in that role. It won't matter, however, as Bayern is going to put goals on the scoreboard this week. After a stunningly unmotivated performance against Hertha Berlin last week, we expect Freiburg to bear the brunt of that frustration.

Overall prediction record: 14-22

Note: Predicted ties count as a win if correct and a loss if there is a winner in the game; conversely games that end in ties, but where a winner is predicted count as a loss.

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