The Bundesliga has as many goals as it last started almost 40 years ago. The best scorer is one of the many strong newcomers from Bayer Leverkusen. After the international break, we continue with a top duel.
Two teams started the season with three wins and thus the optimal number of points. Exactly those two teams will open the 4th matchday. On Friday (September 15th, 2023), three days after the classic international match between Germany and France, FC Bayern meets Bayer Leverkusen.
Based on the impressions from the first games, two things speak for Munich in this duel: home rights and the fact that it’s Bayern. The form speaks for Leverkusen, because the team of coach Xabi Alonso seems amazingly well-coordinated at the beginning of the season. With impressive football, Leverkusen immediately won the top game against Leipzig, then the duel at Borussia Mönchengladbach, and finally Darmstadt 98 was clearly defeated after a slight slump in the first half.
Boniface leads scorer rating
The newcomers Granit Xhaka, Jonas Hofmann and Victor Boniface stood out, Alejandro Grimaldo convinced. They were in the starting XI for each of the first three games. Boniface, the of Royale Union Saint-Gilloise moved to the Bundesliga from Belgium leads the scorer rankings with four goals and two assists. Harry Kane, FC Bayern’s center forward and the most expensive new signing in the history of the Bundesliga, has one goal less.
At the top of the scorers list is someone who had also been speculated to leave. But Serhou Guirassy, who has already scored five goals, stayed at VfB Stuttgart, who lost Wataru Endo (Liverpool FC), Konstantinos Mavropanos (West Ham United) and Borna Sosa (Ajax Amsterdam) actually seems badly shaken. So far, coach Sebastian Hoeneß’ team has compensated for the departures very well, winning the home games against VfL Bochum and SC Freiburg 5-0. Even at 1: 5 at RB Leipzig, the Swabians kept up very well for half time.
Leipzig also has Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea FC), Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool) and Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City) lost high-quality players, but got back on track after the 2:3 in Leverkusen. The win against Stuttgart was followed by a confident 3-0 win at 1. FC Union Berlin, who made spectacular appearances on the transfer market with new signings Robin Gosens, Kevin Volland and Leonardo Bonucci.
Volland conceded the only red card of the season so far, Gosens scored two goals in his starting XI debut in the game at Darmstadt 98.
Only in 1984 were there more goals after three matchdays
In total, the mark of 100 hits has already been cracked, and exactly. This corresponds to an average of 3.7 hits per game. At least four goals have been scored in 15 of the previous 27 games.
In the history of the Bundesliga, the mark of 100 goals has only been reached once on the third matchday. In the 1984/85 season even 109 goals were counted in the first 27 games.
In addition, the data service provider Sportec Solutions calculated:
– 90 of the 100 hits came from inside the penalty area.
– There have already been eleven penalties (eight have been converted) – the number of penalties after three games was eight years ago.
– There have already been 764 shots on goal, more than ten years ago.
– There were around 500 fewer duels (182 per game) than at the same time last season (201).
– Four players have already scored at least four goals (Guirassy five, Jonas Wind from VfL Wolfsburg, Kevin Behrens from Union Berlin and Boniface four). The last time that happened was 23 years ago after three matchdays (in 2000/01 five players even scored at least four times).
– Only six of the previous 27 games have ended in a draw (never 0-0 yet) – there have been 13 home wins and eight away wins.
– The newly promoted 1. FC Heidenheim and Darmstadt 98 have not won a game (one draw, five defeats, 6:17 goals).
– On the three matchdays there were three leaders (VfB Stuttgart, 1. FC Union, Leverkusen) – and FC Bayern was always second.