Wolfsburg vs Bayern Munich Prediction: Can the defending champions go into Christmas on a high?

Something quite surprising isn't happening this Christmas. Bayern Munich won't be top of the Bundesliga as they are four points behind Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen.

However, they can reduce the deficit to just a single point in their final game of 2023 as they travel to mid-table side Wolfsburg on Wednesday evening (19:30).

Thomas Tuchel's side will want to finish the year on a high and will look forward to the mid-season break so that they can reassess their plan to stop Leverkusen from stealing their Bundesliga crown.

Match Odds

Wolfsburg are 13/2 to get their first win over Bayern in the Bundesliga since January 2015 - they were 4-1 winners on that occasion and that was also on home soil. There have been two draws since then and you can back a stalemate on Wednesday at 9/2. Bayern are the clear favourites to win this match at 1/3, but you will find better value looking at other markets.

Both teams to score is valued at 4/7 - which has landed in four of their last six meetings. Over 2.5 goals can be found at 4/11.

Team News

As a result of an injury crisis, Bayern only named six players on the bench for their victory over Stuttgart at the weekend. They should be boosted by the return of Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka, who were both out with illness.

Tuchel will be concerned by the absence of some of his creative players, as Serge Gnabry (thigh) and Kingsley Coman (calf) will be unavailable for selection. Noussair Mazraoui (calf) and Bouna Sarr (knee) are also in the treatment room. The Christmas break might be coming at the right time for the defending champions.

Wolfsburg captain Max Arnold will return to the fold after serving a suspension but Maxence Lacroix will be taking his place, after getting sent off against Darmstadt last time out. Lukas Nmecha (knee), Patrick Wimmer (ankle) and Rogerio (calf) will all miss the Bayern clash due to injury.

Harry Kane to score 2+ goals @ 11/4

Bayern striker Harry Kane was able to overcome the flu to feature against Stuttgart at the weekend, where he scored twice in their 3-0 victory. In doing so, Kane has become the fastest player in Bundesliga history to reach 20 goals.

And while Bayern are going to be without Coman and Gnabry for the trip to Wolfsburg, Tuchel will be ecstatic that his star striker is available and he will be depending on him to ensure that Bayern head into the break just one point behind Leverkusen.

Kane has been grabbing all the headlines for Bayern since he joined in the summer and rightly so due to his goalscoring prowess. He is the kind of person to know what records are available for him to break this year, and he will fancy his chances to break Robert Lewandowski's total of 41 goals in a single Bundesliga season.

There is little value to be had in backing Kane to score anytime, but he has had a habit of scoring more than once in multiple games this season, six to be precise. That's why we're backing him to score at least twice against Wolfsburg. There's the added pressure due to some of his attacking team mates being unavailable, but this is just the kind of pressure Kane thrives on.

Bayern Munich to win to nil @ 13/8

After keeping their seventh Bundesliga clean sheet of the season over the weekend, Bayern will look to shut successive opponents out for the second time this season. A good marker of a team that are looking to become league champions, or in Bayern's case defend their crown, they need to have a strong defensive record.

Bayern are doing a good job so far this term with seven clean sheets from their opening 14 games. The reigning champions have the best defensive record in the division, with only 12 goals conceded. In contrast, Wolfsburg have only scored on 19 occasions this season, with only five teams having scored less than them.

They have issues with being clinical and against Bayern, chances will be very hard to come by. We're backing Bayern to win to nil here and go into the winter break in style.