Bayern Munich vs Ingolstadt Predictions, Betting Tips, & Match Preview

Bayern Munich’s competitive season under new manager Carlo Ancelotti has been stellar so far. Bayern Munich kicked their 2016/2017 campaign off with a 2-0 win in the Super Cup against old rivals Borussia Dortmund, taking away their first piece of silverware in the process. Carl Zeiss Jena, a German fourth tier side, were next up in the DFB Pokal (German League Cup) first round, not much of a challenge for the reigning champions who eased a 5-0 win. Werder Bremen were the unlucky side to draw Bayern Munich in the opening match of the new Bundesliga season, where Bayern dominated and played out an even more impressive 6-0. Striker Robert Lewandowski opening his account with a hat-trick. Though Bayern have played two more tricky matches since them, neither Schalke in the Bundesliga nor Rostov in the Champions League have been too much cause for concern. Munich won 2-0 and 5-0 respectively in these and allowed their opponents very few chances on goal. Could this Bayern side turn out to be the German “invincibles”?

Ingolstadt started their 2016/2017 campaign under a new coach, Markus Kauczinski, who joined them from 2. Bundesliga side Karlsruher. Kauczinksi has vowed that he will not be changing much about the side moving forwards, with former coach Hasenhüttl’s successful formula from last season being a core component to their main aim: to stay up. Ingolstadt are, however, without three key members of the back four which helped Ingolstadt end last season with the Bundesliga’s joint best defensive record outside of the top three: Benjamin Hübner, Danny da Costa,and Ramazan Özcan have all parted ways with the club. Ingolstadt have taken just one point in their first two league matches, drawing 1-1 away to Hamburg in their opener and 2-0 at home to Hertha Berlin last time out. Not a promising start.

Ancelotti has basically no injury concerns heading into a match for the first time this season, though this doesn’t change too much considering Bayern’s world class squad depth. Munich will likely stick to the same 4-3-3 formation fielded against Werder Bremen and Schalke, with Lewandowski centered between Thomas Muller and Frank Ribery on the wings. Their formidable lineup and perfect form means the bookies price the reigning champions at a very undesirable 1/14 to win. We don’t find much value in an outright Bayern win at this price, unless adding them to an accumulator. Instead, we feel the value here is the bookies generously priced “over 2.5 goals and both teams not to score” market. Ingolstadt have never beaten Bayern over all three prior meetings, failing to score in two of these, and we don’t expect them to stand a chance here. The real question for us is whether or not Ingolstadt will be able to score a consolation goal or defend well enough to stop Bayern Munich scoring two or more at home. Again, we don’t think they can. Munich have kept a clean sheet in all five of their competitive matches so far this season, including matches against much stronger sides like Borussia Dortmund and Schalke, and have scored an average of four goals per game over these. Ingolstadt, meanwhile, were forced into a complete defensive re-haul during the transfer period – the side’s strongest aspect last season – and are yet to display the same prowess from their new back four.

Hence, over 2.5 goals and both teams NOT to score at 11/10 and Bayern Munich to win 4-0 at 11/2 with bet365 are our choice bets for this match.