Bayern Munich are sitting pretty well atop the Bundesliga, with a five-point cushion on second place Borussia Dortmund, and 14 points on anyone else. That’s a comfy position to be in -- but it’s not one they can feel too secure in, because they still need to keep working to stay up there.
Bayern Munich vs. Hannover 2015 live stream: Time, TV schedule and how to watch Bundesliga online
A badly battered Bayern have to head to Hannover and try to win despite their injury woes.
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That’s going to be something of a challenge in this match, though -- they’re badly wracked by injuries, and their depth chart is thin all over the pitch, especially in attack. Bayern are an incredibly talented team, but eventually fatigue and a lack of options will catch up to anyone.
Perhaps luckily for them, Hannover are pretty well in full-on struggle mode. They’ve won just two of their last nine matches, and lost all of the other seven. They give up almost two goals a match, and barely score over one per match of their own. They’re sitting in the relegation playout place, and are just one point above the full-on relegation zone. It’s safe to say that they haven’t been very good this season, and if Bayern have to be suffering an injury crisis, now may be the perfect time for it.
Key player -- Thiago Alcantara (Bayern Munich)
Thiago’s only recently back from injury, but he’s going to be a vital cog for Bayern in this match. His ability to play both a safe possession game and drive the attack forward will be very important in a match that Bayern are playing shorthanded up front. The sharper and more effective Thiago is, the better off Bayern will be, because it will be harder and harder to keep them at bay. If Hannover can’t stop Thiago, they sure as heck won’t be stopping Bayern.
Key factor-- Bayern’s attacking focus
With so many key attacking players out for this one, Bayern don’t have a lot of attacking depth to call on. It’s pretty much just Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller and Kingsley Coman -- certainly an intimidating trio, but if one or more of them have an off-day, Bayern won’t have much of another solution to change to -- that means that the pressure is on, and that everyone will need to be at their best to make sure Bayern don’t slip up.
Hannover 96 injuries and suspensions
Out: Hiroshi Kiyotake
Bayern Munich injuries and suspensions
Out: Philipp Lahm, David Alaba, Douglas Costa, Arjen Robben, Mario Gotze, Mehdi Benatia, Juan Bernat, Franck Ribery, Tom Starke, Julian Green, Sinan Kurt, Gianluca Gaudino, Patrick Weihrauch
Match Date/Time: Sat., 9:30 a.m. ET, 3:30 p.m. local
Venue: HDI-Arena, Hannover, Germany
TV: Fox Sports 1 (US), Sportsnet World (Canada), Sky Bundesliga 1/HD, 3/HD (Germany)
Online: Fox Soccer 2 Go, Fox Sports Go (US), Sportsnet World Now (Canada), Sky Go Deutschland (Germany)
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