Bayer aim to stop Bayern
Second-placed Bayer Leverkusen will be bidding to knock Bayern Munich off the top of the Bundesliga when they host Ottmar Hitzfeld's superstars on Saturday.
Bayern showed title-winning potential in Wednesday night's 5-0 hammering of bottom-side Energie Cottbus at the Allianz Arena with Miroslav Klose bagging a second-half hat-trick and French midfielder Franck Ribery running the show.
Klose, signed from Werder Bremen for 12 million euros (17 million dollars) during the summer, has already scored eight goals in just six Bundesliga games and is forging a strong partnership with Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni.
Between them, the pair have scored 13 goals and tormented defences with their movement and height.
But Bayer, aiming to inflict the first defeat of the season on Bayern, face a race against time to have their captain Bernd Schneider back from a knee injury.
The German midfielder sat out Wednesday night's 3-0 win over Nuremberg after picking up a knock in his side's recent 3-1 UEFA Cup win over Uniao Leiria.
"We are trying to get him back fit to play against Bayern, he's one of our key players," said Bayer coach Michael Skibbe.
If Munich beat Bayer, third-placed Schalke 04 are looking to sneak into second-place and, like Bayern, are undefeated in this season's campaign.
Schalke host Hertha Berlin on Friday and last season's runners-up are looking to make it three wins in a row.
"We've beaten Bielefeld and Duisburg. And now we want to continue our winning run with a victory over Hertha," said Schalke head coach Mirko Slomka.
Berlin have been in erratic form this season, having gone on a three-game unbeaten run they were sent crashing to a 3-1 defeat against struggling Hansa Rostock last weekend.
With striker Marko Pantelic in fine form with five goals, Slomka knows the dangers.
"In Pantelic they have an extremely dangerous striker and in Patrick Ebert and Lucio two very good wide men in midfield", he said.
Two mid-table sides who have threatened to break into the top five, Werder Bremen and Arminia Bielefeld, will be slugging it out on Saturday with Bremen's Brazilian midfielder Diego in good form.
Fourth-placed Hamburg host VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday and the guests will do well to keep their discipline - of the five goals Hamburg's Dutch captain Rafael van der Vaart has scored, three have come from the penalty spot.
German Cup holders Nuremberg are going through something of a crisis as they lay second from bottom and take on fellow-strugglers VfL Bochum who have just one point from their last four games.
Last season's second division champions Karlsruhe are coping with life in the Bundesliga having lost just once in four games and they are at home to Borussia Dormund, who were hammered 3-0 by Hamburg in midweek.
And resurgent Hansa Rostock, who have won their last two games after losing their first five, host defending Bundesliga champions VfB Stuttgart, who are struggling for form with just three wins in their last eight games.
On Sunday, Hanover host Duisburg and Energie Cottbus are at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Comments