As if last season’s 13-point triumph over Bayer Leverkusen wasn’t enough, Bayern Münich appears to be on a mission to prove that Leverkusen’s winning season was a fluke and that it still runs the Bundesliga, as it has for the last decade. The Bavarian giants have taken their dominance to another level in the first four match days of 2025-26.
Tonight’s match is shaping up to be a relatively easy clash as Bayern hosts injury-bitten Werder Bremen, who finished eighth in the table last season but have struggled so far in 2025-26. The game will start at 2:30 p.m. ET (8:30 p.m. local).
Bayern is a -1400 favorite to win and +1000 to draw at DraftKings Sportsbook, while Bremen is +1700.
Bayern Munich vs. Werder Bremen prediction, pick
No Jamal Musiala, no problem for Bayern Munich. Though the phenomenal young attacking midfielder suffered a broken leg during the Club World Cup, his team hasn’t been affected by his absence; Bayern has scored 18 goals and conceded only three. Harry Kane alone has netted eight, four more than Union Berlin’s Ilyas Ansah, Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy, and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Can Uzun, and five of his six shots on target from open play have found the back of the net. Luis Díaz and Serge Gnabry each have three goals and two assists as well. Manuel Neuer has been arguably the team’s only weakness, allowing three goals from nine shots on target, but those nine shots on target represent a league low.
Bremen, meanwhile, has had a tough start to the season, getting knocked out of the DfB-Pokal to Arminia Bielefeld for the second straight year before losing badly against Frankfurt and Freiburg, destroying Borussia Mönchengladbach, and playing out an entertaining 3-3 draw with Bayer Leverkusen. Die Grünweißen has plenty of talent in the attack, as just four teams have scored more than their eight goals, but only Union Berlin has allowed more than their 11. Romano Schmid and Justin Njinmah pace the team with a goal each, and former Victor Boniface — on loan from Leverkusen — notched an assist in his debut. The main issue lies in the back, where Mio Backhaus suffered a shoulder injury that will keep him out of tonight’s game. But backup Karl Hein could be an upgrade over the 21-year-old, who’s made just seven saves from 16 shots on target, with the third-worst underperformance by post-shot expected goals in the league. Hein made 60.7% of his save opportunities last season as Real Valladolid got relegated from La Liga.
Still, Bremen finished one point out of a European place last season and then added Boniface, so Bayern shouldn’t take the match lightly. I don’t expect Die Roten to lose, of course: only Augsburg has even lost by a single goal, and Bayern produced 4.2 expected goals’ worth of chances to Augsburg’s 0.5 in that match. Still, Bremen had better chances than Leverkusen in their draw despite playing with 10 men after the 64th minute and had majority control of the possession against Freiburg despite losing 3-0. Die Grünweißen are dealing with lots of injuries in the back line, but there have been some flashes from the backups: Felix Agu ranks second in the Bundesliga in tackles. Die Roten are also down to their third-string left back after Josip Stanišić suffered an MCL injury in the Champions League win over Chelsea, and center back Kim Min-Jae left their last match with a recurring calf issue.
Bayern should start a pretty strong squad, as this match is harder than next week’s Champions League clash against Cypriot side Paphos. Vincent Kompany’s first-choice XI can easily beat Bremen by three goals if it was able to top Chelsea by two while only getting four of its 15 shots on target, especially since Die Grünweißen have allowed the fourth-best chances and Die Roten have been easily the league’s most clinical finishers. I just have enough respect for Bremen’s front line, especially as Boniface settles in with his new squad, that I’m willing to take the visitors against the spread.
