<span class="titolo">Bundesliga Weekend Preview</span></p> <span class="sommario">As the Bundesliga returns after the international break, the question on everybody’s lips is whether Bayern can keep up their surging start to the season or whether Werder, Stuttgart and Schalke can recover from their slow starts and start to challenge at the top of the table.</span></p> The weekend action gets underway on Friday evening with a tasty clash between Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen at the Signal Iduna Park. </p> With their season showing signs of improving following their Champions League qualification, Werder will be looking to notch up three points in order to close the gap between them and Bayern Munich. </p> An away win will be no easy task, although Thomas Schaaf’s side have an impressive record there. Dortmund have only managed two home wins in the past 10 seasons.</p> Two defeats in their first two league games did not auger well for BVB, but wins against Cottbus and Rostock have put them back on course. Werder had the best away record in the league last season, so they will be confident going into the game.</p> The big-match of the weekend takes place at the Allianz Arena as Bayern Munich host last season’s runners-up Schalke. Three wins on the bounce for Bayern had some people talking of complete domination, but a 1-1 draw at Hamburg has shown that they are not going to brush everyone aside so easily this year. The club have also suffered a setback with the loss of Philipp Lahm, and Luca Toni is also a doubt.</p> The Königsblauen have made a solid, if not spectacular start to the season, although Mirko Slomka will be concerned about the points that have been dropped in games they have dominated. They will no doubt go out and attack Bayern as the best form of defence is attack. The Ruhr side will be boosted by the return of Captain Marcelo Bordon, although his fellow centre back Mladen Krstajic is out with a knee injury. </p> Bayern won the corresponding fixture last season 2-0 to put a dent in Schalke’s title hopes in Week 27. Bayern have also already beaten Schalke this season after they ran out 1-0 winners in the pre-season League Cup. </p> Stuttgart welcome Cottbus to the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion desperate for three points. Last season’s champions find themselves in 15th place after only one win in their first four games. Trainer Armin Veh has recently voiced his displeasure at the recent form shown by his side, but is boosted by the return of a number of key players. Mario Gomez is back, while Yildiray Bastürk is very close to making his debut.</p> Cottbus find themselves in the bottom three with just two points, so defeat to the Swabians will plunge them further into trouble. Petrick Sander’s team need to start picking up points quickly, if they are to avoid the dreaded ‘second season syndrome’. Last year’s 13th place in their return to the Bundesliga was respectable enough, but the pressure is already on them to repeat that.</p> Bayer Leverkusen play host to second place Bochum, who are enjoying a good start to the season. Their current heady position is misleading to some extent as there are currently eleven sides on either 6 or 7 points.</p> Leverkusen were being tipped by many before the start of the season to be the side most likely to break the stranglehold of last year’s top four. However with only one win so far, those predictions seem ambitious. They did well to claim a point last time out against Schalke, but they will have to show the form they did against Karlsruher in Week 3, when they ran out comfortable 3-0 winners.</p> Nürnberg trainer Hans Meyer has told his team that they need to buck their ideas up soon, or face a very difficult season. With only one win so far, ‘Der Klub’ find themselves in the bottom three. A win on Saturday will give them the boost needed to push on from last season’s cup success.</p> Their opponents Hannover, under Dieter Hecking, have made a promising start to the campaign and will pose problems to the Nürnberg back line. The ‘Reds’ hit three goals in their last league match and with Mike Hanke showing good form will be hopeful of a result. </p> Traditional under-achievers Eintracht Frankfurt play host to Hamburg. It should be a very interesting game as both sides have started the season well. The teams have an identical record with two wins, one draw, and one defeat to their names. Home advantage may just swing things in Frankfurt’s favour, but HSV have enough attacking talent to take the points themselves. </p> Bielefeld welcome pointless Hansa Rostock to the Schüco Arena for the final Saturday match. Rostock manager Frank Pagelsdorf will be telling his players to believe in themselves and that their first points will arrive soon. That said, Bielefeld have started the season well and will themselves believe that the three points are there for the taking.</p> On Sunday Wolfsburg entertain Karlsruher at the Volkswagen Arena. Felix Magath’s new side have not exactly set the league alight so far this season with two defeats already. A home tie against a newly promoted side should provide them with an ideal opportunity to grab three vital points. However KSC have shown that are not going to be pushovers this season and have already beaten Nürnberg and Stuttgart. </p> The weekend’s action is completed with Duisburg playing Hertha Berlin. Both sides have won two and lost two, so a win for either would push them up the table. Last season’s second division champions will be looking to build on their wins against Dortmund and Bielefeld, and in Manasseh Ishiaku have one of the form strikers in the league. Berlin trainer Lucien Favre will be looking for his new signings to cement themselves into the team and start producing results.</p> </p>
