Mainz 05 v Bayern Munich Betting Tips

As they bid to close the gap on the ever-impressive RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich travel to take on Mainz at the Opel Arena on Friday night.

Although they are second in the table, Bayern haven’t quite imposed themselves on the Bundesliga this season in the manner that we’ve become used to in recent times. They have only lost once and do boast the joint-best defensive record in the division, but, at times, their performances have been less convincing than we often see and the high-scoring demolitions have been kept down to a minimum, for now at least.

Mainz, by their own standards, have enjoyed a fairly good campaign so far. They sit 9th in the table with five wins, two draws and five losses. Their best form has come in front of their own fans, or at least this is what their record would suggest. Having lost just once in front of a home crowd, it would appear that Mainz are somewhat of a dominant force on their own patch; however, they’ve looked far from secure at the back and have been somewhat lucky on occasions. In their five matches on home soil, they’ve kept just one clean sheet and have conceded a total of ten goals. Not exactly the defensive record you want when hosting a side of Bayern’s calibre.

From a betting point of view, there are two bets that catch the eye ahead of this one. At odds of 6/5 and 6/4 respectively, ‘Bayern to Score Over 2.5 Goals’ and ‘Over 1.5 First Half Goals’ are both worth being on.

It’s easy to think that we could see a fast start in this match. Mainz are a side who like to attack in front of their own fans, while Bayern will no doubt be keen to assert themselves early on against a team who’ve conceded more goals at home than 14 of the Bundesliga’s 18 teams this season. On top of this, at least two first half goals were scored in three of Mainz’s five at home, while 50% of Bayern’s six on the road saw the net bulge at least twice before the interval. It’s fancied that the rather kamikaze style employed by the hosts – only three teams have scored more, while just three have conceded more – will also help.

In terms of coming out on top, it’s hard to see Bayern not dominating here, especially considering how poor Mainz have been in defence. With this in mind, this match represents an excellent opportunity for Bayern to score goals. The visitors have scored three or more goals on five occasions so far this season, and while they may have only done so in one of their away matches in the league, it remains hard to look past them racking up a few here. Martin Schmidt’s Mainz have shipped a total of ten goals in front of a home crowd, conceding three or more on two occasions – those two occasions being their only home matches against any of the more impressive teams in this division.

In addition, the hosts have conceded three or more goals on five occasions in all-competitions this season and to say that they have a good chance of avoiding making it six against Bayern would be somewhat bold. The fact that they conceded twice against 11th place Freiburg at the weekend once again highlighted the issues that Die Nullfünfer have at the back.

A high-scoring match, one that starts quickly in terms of goals, is expected in Mainz on Friday night, but, ultimately, it is Bayern who look set to enjoy the best of the contest and it would be a bit of surprise if they didn’t cause a weak back-line numerous problems.

See all of Friday’s tips here.