McClaren will lose on his Wolfsburg debut

If Steve McClaren enjoys the same success in Germany that he managed in the Eredivisie with FC Twente then the Bundesliga's tasty curtain-raising clash between Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg could feature the two sides destined to fight it out for the title.

Oddly, Wolfsburg's new manager has only got off to a winning start once before and that was in the job that swiftly turned sour. McClaren's tenure as England boss got underway with 4-0 and 5-0 victories, whereas he lost his first four league games at Middlesbrough, and drew his first two in Holland.

So while we expect the Bundesliga's first English coach to impress, not least because a defence that leaked 58 goals last season has been strengthened by the additions of Simon Kjaer and Arne Friedrich, an opening day defeat is a near certainty against reigning champions Bayern Munich.

Louis van Gaal's men haven't lost an opener since 2001, won 14 of 15 at the Allianz Arena at the end of the previous campaign and have triumphed in ten straight home matches against the team that beat them to the title in 2008-09.

The Bavarian club are [1.68] to come out on top again, however the visitors only failed to score three times last term, which is why it's no surprise that over 2.5 goals is just [1.64]. Over 3.5 is worth considering at [2.6], as is 3-1 to the hosts at [13.0].

Bayern Munich v Wolfsburg
Kick-off: 7.30pm
Live on ESPN

Think McClaren's men can pull of a big upset? Then back them at [5.9]...

Published: 20 Aug 2010