SOCCER FOOTBALL 24H

Dortmund to retain top spot Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund Saturday 03 November, 14:30 Live on Betfair Live Video Borussia Dortmund may have dropped two precious points last weekend, but they have still made a remarkable start to the campaign. New coach  Lucien Favre  has managed to get his ideas across to his players surprisingly quickly, and there is clear evidence that his carefully coordinated attacking plans are being followed by a group of incredibly talented forwards. Jadon Sancho, Marko Reus,  Paco Alcacer  and Christian Pulisic (who was excellent in the midweek cup win over Union Berlin) are all thriving, and even Mario Gotze has recently been brought in from the cold. The defence remains a concern, and it may be the leaks at the back that prevent BVB from taking the Meisterschale away from Bayern. Dortmund have conceded multiple goals in four of their last eight games in all competitions, and it was the late concession of a needless penalty that co...

Bayern to continue their recovery Mainz v Bayern Munich Saturday 27 October, 14:30 Live on Betfair Live Video Although Bayern are still four points adrift of Borussia Dortmund in the title race, and therefore aren't quite out of crisis mode yet, there are signs that under-fire coach  Niko Kovac  is turning the ship around. A 3-1 win at Wolfsburg last Saturday was followed by a vital 2-0 victory at AEK Athens in the Champions League. Neither victory was particularly sparkling, but the background noise has at least died down a little, and a win at Mainz would underline the impression that Bayern are heading in the right direction once again. Mainz are perhaps the perfect opponents for Bayern at the moment. The  Opta  stats show that Bayern have beaten Die Nullfunfer in 10 of the last 12 attempts, and last season they beat them 4-0 and 2-0. After a promising start to the campaign, a young Mainz team has really started to struggle. They  haven't scored ...

Schalke's recovery to hit a Werder wall Schalke v Werder Bremen Saturday 20 October, 17:30 Live on BT Sport Extra Having started the campaign with five straight Bundesliga defeats, Schalke have little margin for error in their efforts to return to the top end of the table. A nervy 1-0 win over Mainz was followed by a more secure 2-0 victory at Fortuna Dusseldorf, results that sandwiched an  incredibly important Champions League victory  against Lokomotiv in Moscow. While that winning run was both necessary and welcome, it doesn't necessarily mean that Schalke are playing well enough to be  2.12  favourites to win this game. Their opponents Werder Bremen are in far better shape right now in the standings, and coach  Florian Kohfeldt  is doing a fine job. Kohfeldt has taken the strong defensive base he inherited from his predecessor Alexander Nouri, and he has added an attacking flourish. Werder move through the gears quickly in attack, and new si...

Bayern to face yet more frustration Bayern Munich v Borussia Monchengladbach Saturday 06 September, 17:30 Live on BT Sport Life at Germany's most successful club can sour quickly if results take a turn for the worse. It wasn't that long ago that Bayern Munich's players were falling over themselves to praise the tactical acumen and straight talking of new coach  Niko Kovac,  but after a trio of poor results, the picture has changed significantly. There's talk of disgruntlement about tactics and squad rotation, and even allegations that midfielder  James Rodriguez  told Kovac in no uncertain terms that what worked with Eintracht Frankfurt may not be so effective in Munich. These whispers may or may not be accurate, but what's undeniable is that Bayern have lost their way in the last fortnight. A clumsy 1-1 draw at home to Bavarian neighbours Augsburg was a minor misstep, but Bayern were very sloppy in a 2-0 defeat at Hertha Berlin (their only reverse of the s...