Bundesliga September 18–20: Perfect Dortmund, Freiburg on Top and a Big Test for Leverkusen

Bundesliga Matchweek 4 opens on Friday with Bayern, but the strongest storylines come later in the weekend. Borussia Dortmund take their perfect start to Stuttgart, league leaders Freiburg travel to Frankfurt, while Bayer Leverkusen host RB Leipzig after a comfortable Europa League win.

After three rounds, Freiburg and Dortmund both have nine points, Bayern sit just behind on seven, while Leipzig have six.

888STARZ odds were recorded at the time of writing via the bookmaker’s current line in an odds comparison service and may change before kick-off.

Stuttgart vs Borussia Dortmund — a perfect start against a wildly inconsistent one

Dortmund have won all three of their opening matches and head into the weekend with nine points from nine.

Stuttgart’s start has been completely different: a 5-1 defeat to Bayern, followed by a 4-1 win over Cologne and then another loss, 2-1 against Hoffenheim.

Yet the market does not make Dortmund clear favourites.

888STARZ odds:
Stuttgart — 2.48 | Draw — 3.80 | Borussia Dortmund — 2.87

That is probably the most interesting part of the matchup. The league table shows a huge gap, but the market still gives Stuttgart a slight edge at home.

Bayer Leverkusen vs RB Leipzig — the most open big game of the round?

Leverkusen began their Europa League campaign with a controlled 2-0 win over Celje. Their domestic start has been less convincing, with four points from the opening three league matches.

Leipzig arrive after a 5-0 win over Hamburg.

There is also an interesting home-away split: Leipzig have won their last seven Bundesliga home matches, but lost their last three away games. Last season at the BayArena, Leverkusen also won this fixture 4-1.

888STARZ odds:
Bayer Leverkusen — 2.06 | Draw — 4.21 | RB Leipzig — 3.41

Leverkusen are favourites, but a home price above 2.00 keeps this one fairly open. On the market alone, this is one of the closest high-profile games of the weekend.

Eintracht Frankfurt vs Freiburg — the leaders go to Frankfurt

The biggest surprise at the top of the early table is Freiburg.

They have taken nine points from nine and arrive as league leaders. Eintracht have four points, but head into Saturday after a good 3-1 win over Mainz.

The market, though, is much more cautious than the table.

888STARZ odds:
Eintracht Frankfurt — 2.44 | Draw — 3.97 | Freiburg — 2.83

Despite Freiburg’s perfect start, Eintracht are still slight favourites at home.

That makes this a useful test of how seriously Freiburg’s early lead should be taken.

Two More Matches Worth Watching

Bayern vs Union Berlin

The odds almost remove the suspense before kick-off.

Bayern have seven points from three matches, while Union have only one.

888STARZ: 1.05 | 22.00 | 55.00

So the real question is not who the favourite is, but how convincing Bayern will look on Friday night.

Borussia Monchengladbach vs Mainz

Gladbach’s start is already becoming a concern: zero points from three matches and a goal difference of -9. Their latest game ended in a 5-0 defeat to Freiburg.

Mainz have four points and arrive in a much calmer position.

888STARZ: 3.06 | 3.88 | 2.32

Even at home, Gladbach are underdogs — a fairly strong reflection of how poor their opening weeks have been.

All Bundesliga Matchweek 4 Fixtures

Paderborn are another side worth watching: they are still searching for their first Bundesliga goal of the season, and now face a Hoffenheim team priced as clear away favourites.

But the three main questions sit higher up the table: can Dortmund maintain their perfect start, can Freiburg back up their position at the top in Frankfurt, and can Leverkusen stop a Leipzig side coming off a five-goal win?

Those are the storylines worth revisiting after the weekend.