With one draw and one loss in the last two games, Vincent Kompany is suddenly feeling the pressure now. Bayern Munich is not a team that tolerates dropped points, and failure to win against Frankfurt will raise a lot of uncomfortable questions right before an international break.
To make matters worse, Jamal Musiala is officially sidelined with a hip injury, and the team has no one who can take over his role as the main attacking midfielder. Well, there is this one guy, but he’s far too old, and hasn’t started a game since August. Surely Kompany couldn’t be that desperate?
Team news
Aside from Musiala, it’s mostly good news. Hiroki Ito is back training individually, though Sacha Boey and Josip Stanišić remain injured. Two-thirds of that trio could be back after the international break, but Kompany will have to deal with his absentees (for now).
So, what kind of lineup do we expect? Well, assuming that Kompany continues to ignore You Know Who, we may see a continuation of the four-man attacking setup that started against Aston Villa. That means Harry Kane up top, with Michael Olise behind him, and Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry on the wings.
Aleksandar Pavlović and Joshua Kimmich are likely to continue their stint in midfield, while Raphaël Guerreiro probably swaps in for Konrad Laimer at right-back. The rest of the XI remains unchanged — don’t expect Vincent Kompany to make major tactical alterations at this juncture.
Assuming things stay as they have been, here’s a likely starting XI:
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