Five rounds in, and the Bundesliga table looks nothing like the familiar picture.
Freiburg lead with 13 points, Borussia Dortmund are second on the same total, while Bayern have slipped to third after back-to-back draws. And now the leaders travel to fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen, while Bayern host a Leipzig side fresh from scoring six against Eintracht.
Matchday 6 could either validate the new order — or pull the usual heavyweights straight back towards the top.
Here are the key fixtures and the current 888STARZ line.
Bayern Munich vs RB Leipzig
Saturday’s headline game.
Bayern sit third on 11 points and remain unbeaten, but both of their last two league matches ended level: 0–0 against Schalke and 2–2 at Augsburg.
Leipzig are fifth on nine points and arrive in Munich after a stunning 6–0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
888STARZ:
1.24 / 8.05 / 11.40
And this is where the market almost ignores both the table and Leipzig’s recent form.
1.24 on Bayern is one of the strongest favourite prices anywhere in Europe this weekend.
After two straight draws, Bayern badly need a win. But Leipzig are arriving after a six-goal performance and with one of the best goal differences in the league.
That makes the matchup far more interesting than the odds suggest.
Bayer Leverkusen vs Freiburg
This one is directly about the top of the table.
Freiburg are the surprise leaders after five rounds with 13 points and a 14–4 goal difference.
Bayer moved up to fourth on 10 points after a wild 4–3 win over Mainz.
888STARZ:
1.70 / 4.52 / 4.83
The market does not treat the league leaders like favourites at all.
Bayer are 1.70 at home, while Freiburg are almost 5.00.
That is probably the biggest disconnect of the round: the team sitting first travels to the side in fourth and goes in as a clear underdog.
For Freiburg, this is the first real test of just how serious their start might be.
Union Berlin vs Borussia Dortmund
Dortmund looked to have Matchday 5 wrapped up.
They led Werder 2–0 as late as the 85th minute — and somehow finished 2–2. Those dropped points cost them first place.
Now comes a trip to Union, who finally stopped a poor run by beating Elversberg 1–0 but still sit 16th.
888STARZ:
5.34 / 4.63 / 1.63
The market expects a Dortmund response.
Away win at 1.63 makes sense on the table: 13 points against four.
But Union have at least managed to stop losing.
For Dortmund, another dropped result would hurt much more than the last one.
Eintracht Frankfurt vs Cologne
After last weekend, Eintracht have one obvious question to answer: how do you respond to 0–6?
Frankfurt dropped to 14th with five points. Cologne, meanwhile, beat Gladbach 2–1 in the Rhine derby and are now 10th on seven.
Yet the hosts are still favourites.
888STARZ:
1.92 / 4.37 / 3.76
An interesting line after such a heavy defeat.
The market is effectively asking Eintracht to forget the 0–6 immediately and return to the role of a team expected to control a home game.
Cologne are higher in the table, though, and arrive in a much calmer state of mind.
Hamburg vs Stuttgart
Both teams have six points, but their last few days could hardly have felt more different.
Hamburg pulled off a dramatic 3–2 win over Hoffenheim, scoring the winner in stoppage time.
Stuttgart beat Paderborn 2–0 in the league and then followed it up by cruising past Slovan 3–0 in the Champions League.
888STARZ:
4.09 / 4.09 / 1.90
Despite being level on points, Stuttgart are clear favourites.
For the visitors, this is a chance to finally start climbing towards the top half.
For Hamburg, it is an opportunity to show that last weekend’s comeback was more than a one-off.
Borussia Monchengladbach vs Hoffenheim
This already looks like an early-season relegation fight.
Gladbach have lost all five matches and remain the only Bundesliga side without a point. Hoffenheim are second-bottom with three and have also lost four times.
888STARZ:
3.33 / 4.21 / 2.10
Even at home, Gladbach are underdogs.
That says almost everything about where they are right now.
Five straight defeats have already brought a coaching change. A sixth would make the situation even more uncomfortable.
For Hoffenheim, this is one of those rare games where the market genuinely expects them to win.
Full Matchday 6 Schedule
16 October: Eintracht Frankfurt — Cologne.
17 October: Union Berlin — Borussia Dortmund, Hamburg — Stuttgart, Werder Bremen — Paderborn, Schalke — Mainz, Elversberg — Augsburg, Bayern Munich — RB Leipzig.
18 October: Bayer Leverkusen — Freiburg, Borussia Monchengladbach — Hoffenheim.
Before Matchday 6
The most interesting question is not even who will be top on Sunday night.
It is this: how stable is the current table really?
Freiburg are first, yet travel to Leverkusen as 4.83 underdogs.
Bayern are only third, yet are priced at an almost overwhelming 1.24 against fifth-placed Leipzig.
Dortmund lost top spot because of five poor minutes against Werder and now need a response in Berlin.
Maybe Matchday 6 pulls the table back towards familiar territory.
Or maybe Freiburg prove that first place after five rounds is no accident at all.
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