‘Don’t let anything slip’ as Bayern begin busy week at home to Werder Bremen

FC Bayern kick off their first busy spell of the new year when they host Werder Bremen at the Allianz Arena for Matchday 18 in the Bundesliga on Sunday (kick-off at 15:30 CET, coverage on fcbayern.com and in the FC Bayern app with our live text commentary and free web radio). Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our preview.

Check out the photos from final training on Saturday:

State of play

After opening 2024 with a 3-0 win at home to Hoffenheim last weekend, Bayern spent the week in Faro, Portugal at a short training camp. Thomas Tuchel’s team used the time to optimally prepare for the games to come. “We had a good time; the training sessions were at a top level. It’s only a matter of time until we regularly play that way in competitive matches,” the 50-year-old said at his press conference on Saturday. The Bremen fixture is the start of an important week of three Bundesliga games. “We want to pick up where we left off against Hoffenheim. The key thing is we don’t let anything slip because we’re still second,” added captain Manuel Neuer in an interview.

Bayern are on a Bundesliga record run of 28 games unbeaten against Bremen:

Opponents Werder Bremen

With 17 games played, Werder sit 13th in the table with 17 points. The northern club are yet to really get going away from home this season, with a league-low three points earned on their travels. However, Ole Werner’s side did snatch a late point in Bochum last weekend with a 1-1 draw. “Bremen have a special way of playing. It’s always technical and focused on scoring goals, attacking. That’s in their DNA,” Tuchel said in analysis of Sunday’s opponents.

Recap what Tuchel had to say at his press conference:

Personnel

Bouna Sarr (cruciate ligament), Daniel Peretz (knee) and Serge Gnabry (muscular) remain sidelined for Bayern. Minjae Kim and Noussair Mazraoui are also still away with their national teams. However, Tuchel confirmed that Matthijs de Ligt is fit to play after sitting out training during the week with a knee issue.

Werder come to Munich without the injured Milos Veljkovic, Amos Pieper, Leon Optitz and Spyros Angelidis, as well as the suspended duo of Marvin Ducksch and Leonardo Bittencourt, plus Naby Keita, who is with Guinea at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Read up on the facts ahead of the game:

What the coaches say