The Bundesliga champions’ crown has slipped and they need a positive start to 2019 against opponents chasing a European place <\/p>\n
Bayern Munich find themselves in the unusual position of playing catch up in the Bundesliga, with their first match after the winter break a trip to Hoffenheim.<\/p>\n
Though Niko Kovac\u2019s side finished 2018 in fine form, they trail Borussia Dortmund by six points and can ill-afford a slip against opponents who are chasing European football next season.<\/p>\n
A sixth win in succession, however, would send a message to BVB that the title race is far from over as the new year begins.<\/p>\n
In the\u00a0United States (US),\u00a0the game can be\u00a0watched live\u00a0and on-demand with fuboTV (7-day free trial).<\/p>\n
Article continues below<\/span> <\/p>\n Juve on alert: Exiled Icardi may have already played his final game for Inter Sarri vindicated for dropping Kepa as Chelsea & Pedro impress in Spurs win Magnificent Mane takes centre stage as league leaders Liverpool put on a five-star show Lukaku sends reminder that his Man Utd career is far from over <\/p>\n New users can sign up for a free seven-day trial of the live sports streaming service, which can be accessed via iOS, Android, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Apple TV as well as on a web browser.<\/p>\n In the United Kingdom (UK), the game can\u00a0be watched live on BT Sport 1 and livestreamed on BT Sport Live.<\/p>\n Hoffenheim have named a strong squad for this encounter, though Lukas Rupp is injured.<\/p>\n Illness means that striker Robin Hack misses out, while Havard Nordtveit is also out with\u00a0a virus. A lung infection has also prevented Ermin Bicakcic from featuring.<\/p>\n Hoffenheim starting XI: Baumann; Posch, Vogt, Hubner; Kaderabek, Demirbay, Belfodil, Schulz; Bittencourt, Joelinton, Kramaric<\/p>\n \u200b Javi Martinez has overcome a knock to make the starting lineup, while\u00a0James Rodriguez is on the bench after not playing since November due to a knee injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alphonso Davies could make his debut after completing his move from the Vancouver Whitecaps, with the Canadian named to the bench.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bayern Munich starting XI: Neuer;\u00a0Kimmich, Sule, Hummels, Alaba;\u00a0Martinez;\u00a0Thiago, Goretzka;\u00a0Muller, Lewandowski, Coman<\/p>\n Bayern Munich\u00a0are priced at 1\/2 to win, according to\u00a0bet 365, while a draw is available at 15\/4.\u00a0A win for Hoffenheim is priced at 9\/4.<\/p>\n Click here to see all of bet 365’s\u00a0offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more.<\/p>\n Bayern Munich failed to finish the Bundesliga in top position at Christmas for the first time in eight years, and they have set about putting a plan in place to ensure that it does not happen again.<\/p>\n The Allianz Arena side have been very active in the transfer window in the first half of January, completing a move to sign Alphonso Davies from the Vancouver Whitecaps and doing their best to add Chelsea talent Callum Hudson-Odoi to their ranks, much to the chagrin of the Blues.<\/p>\n There has, however, been little attempt to sign a recognised star and indeed it seems likelier that one may go out the exit door, with Kovac having admitted that James Rodriguez is \u201cplaying for his future\u201d.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the coach is looking forward to the challenge of hunting down first-placed Dortmund.<\/p>\n \u201cI see my lads want to take on the chase,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to and have to win the match to up the pressure against Dortmund.<\/p>\n \u201cYou never know how you’ll start, where you are. As at the beginning of the season, you hope to start with a very good result. We need that, and we all know it.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoffenheim boss Julian Nagelsmann will celebrate his 100th Bundesliga match, despite being only 31 years old.<\/p>\n After an injury crisis struck his squad in the first half of the campaign, he is eager for his players to put up a strong fight.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s important not to run up the white flag when the red bus arrives,\u201d he said. \u201cBayern are under a certain amount of pressure on Friday. If they don’t win the match it’s a signal for the other teams at the top.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Bundesliga champions’ crown has slipped and they need a positive start to 2019 against opponents chasing a European place Bayern Munich find themselves in the unusual position of playing catch up in the Bundesliga, with their first match after the winter break a trip to Hoffenheim. Though Niko Kovac\u2019s side finished 2018 in fine…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Editors' Picks<\/h3>\n
\nSquads & Team News <\/h2>\n
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Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben are both sidelined for Bayern Munich, who are also without long-term absentee Corentin Tolisso. Renato Sanches is suspended and cannot play.<\/p>\n
\nBetting & Match Odds <\/h2>\n
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\nMatch Preview <\/h2>\n
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