Bayern Munchen vs. Fc Koln - Preview

     Bayern is having an excellent season so far topping Bundesliga, progressing in the Cup as well as winning a very tough group involving Napoli, Manchester City and Villareal in the Champions League with 1 game to spare. They\'ve had 5 days to rest before this game, Schweinsteiger is the only important missing, but without him Bayern is actually more offensive and their games are more high-scoring. I don\'t expect them to start with both Gustavo and Tymoschuk playing as defensive midfielders, since this game promises to be just one way traffic to Koln\'s penalty area.

    Now... we have Koln, with quite some important absences. First we have midfielders Lanig, Petit, Matuszczyk, strikers Chihi and Novakovic as well as full-back Andrezinho.  

   Koln conceded 22 goals in 7 away games this season, averaging 3 goals per game. At the same time they are scoring 2 goals per away game. In total we have an average of 5 goals per game involving Koln on the road. All 7 of their road trips this season ended with at least 3 goals, 5 of those ending over 3.5 at the very least.

   This is the team which lost 5-0 in Dortmund, 5-1 at Schalke, 3-0 at Hertha, 2-1 at Hoffenheim but also drew 2-2 at Stuttgart and won 4-1 at Leverkusen and 4-3 at Hamburg. They have an awfull defense, are hilarious in their own box.

    And Koln is playing Bayern away from home. The team of the moment in Germany, a team which scored 27 goals in 8 home games, 3.5 goals per game. When facing teams with unstable defenses just like Koln here, they recorded heavy wins.... 7-0 Freiburg, 4-0 Nurnberg, 5-0 Hamburger, or 4-0 Hertha. But even better teams have come to Munchen and got banged 3 times. 3-2 Napoli, 3-1 Villareal, 3-0 Leverkusen and also 4-1 Werder, and 2-0 Manchester City.

   In the last 3 seasons Bayern is winless over Koln at home, the last 2 being nil draws. But this game is impossible to end any other way but a heavy win for Bayern. Over 3.5 goals, never in doubt.