<span class="titolo">Bundesliga Weekend Preview: Pressure Mounts As Bayern Surge</span></p> <span class="sommario">The pressure is increasing on a number of teams as the new Bundesliga season progresses. Thomas Doll looks to end a losing streak at Dortmund, as does Rudi Bommer as Duisburg. Felix Magath is seeking his first home win, while Bojan Prasnikar is under pressure to turn things around at Cottbus.</span></p> The opening match of Round 9 in the Bundesliga takes place on Friday night with Borussia Dortmund aiming to put an end to a terrible run of results. They entertain VfL Bochum at the Signal Iduna Park having lost their last three league matches. Following their fantastic 3-0 victory over Werder Bremen, Thomas Doll’s side have suffered successive defeats at the hands of Karlsruher, Hamburg and Hertha Berlin. They have slipped to 15th and lie just three points above the drop zone.</p> Nothing less than a win will appease an angry Thomas Doll. The visitors themselves are also in need of points after slipping down the table from their heady position of second after four games. Trainer Marcel Koller looks set to rest Tommy Bechmann and with Joel Epalle injured he could start with strike pairing of Sestak and Mieciel.</p> Stuttgart will want to quickly get over the disappointment of losing to Barcelona in the Champions League in midweek when they host Hannover at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion. The Swabians home record is formidable so a valuable three points should be on the cards, although Hannover will be hoping to spring a surprise and take advantage of any Champions League hangover.</p> Schalke also have a home tie following their midweek trip to Norway. The Königsblauen are Bayern’s closest challengers at the moment, but they face third place Karlsruher. Along with Bayern, Schalke are the only Bundesliga side yet to lose this season and added to that they have won their last three league matches. With a good win on Wednesday against Rosenborg, that form continued, but the visitors will be hoping those Champions League exertions have taken a toll on Mirko Slomka’s men.</p> KSC rather surprisingly find themselves third in the table after five wins in their opening eight games. Edmund Becker will be more than pleased with the start his newly promoted side have particularly when he looks at the plight of fellow newcomers Rostock and Duisburg. “We are outsiders, but we want to show that we have earned our 15 points” the trainer said.</p> The other team involved in midweek Champions League action, Werder Bremen, travel to the MSV Arena to face Duisburg. An emphatic 8-1 win last weekend against Bielefeld was put into context when the ‘Green and Whites’ were beaten at home on Wednesday by Greek side Olympiakos. On the plus side Thomas Schaaf can call upon Torsten Frings in the league for the first time this season, but on a negative note goalkeeper Tim Wiese remains doubtful.</p> Duisburg will be looking to end their current run of four defeats and arrest their slide down the table. Having won their opening three matches, things were looking bright for the Zebras, but they now find themselves in the bottom three. The last time the sides met in 2005/06 Werder ran out 5-3 winners.</p> Hertha Berlin play bottom side Energie Cottbus at the Olympiastadion looking for three points against their close neighbours. Hertha lost the corresponding fixture last season, although they did pick up all three points in the return game. New Cottbus trainer Bojan Prasnikar very nearly made the perfect start to his tenure last Sunday against Frankfurt, only to squander a two-goal lead. The stakes are raised this weekend with a local derby. </p> Bielefeld welcome Hamburg to the Schüco-Arena looking to quickly banish the memories of their 8-1 thrashing last week at the hands of Werder Bremen. The loss surprisingly was not their highest ever Bundesliga defeat though. That came in November 1982 when they were thumped 11-1 by Borussia Dortmund.</p> The loss at the Weser Stadion last weekend was the third in a row for Ernst Middendorp’s side who were riding high in second place after five games.</p> Wolfsburg will be looking for their first home win of the season against Hansa Rostock. The fans at the Volkswagen Arena have been left unsatisfied this season with just two points to shout about. Rostock for their part have hit a purple patch after losing their opening five games. Consecutive wins over Stuttgart, Hertha Berlin and Duisburg have seen the atmosphere at the club improve. </p> Both Bayern Munich and Nürnberg faced Uefa Cup travels on Thursday, and both progressed to the group stages of the competition. The two Bavarian rivals meet at the Allianz Arena on Sunday with both sides enjoying completely different starts to the season.</p> Bayern have shot out of the blocks sweeping aside all before them with apparent ease, whereas Nürnberg’s season has not got started at all and is in danger of going disastrously wrong. Four defeats in their opening eight games has seen last season’s Cup winners slide into the drop zone.</p> Michael Rensing will continue in goal deputising for Oliver Kahn, but it is still uncertain whether Lukas Podolski will have recovered in time from his flu bout to be able to come in for the injured Miroslav Klose.</p> The final match of Round 9 sees Eintracht Frankfurt host Bayer Leverkusen. The ‘Werkself’ have shown glimpses this season that they could break the monopoly of Schalke, Werder, and Stuttgart as the main challengers to Bayern at the top end of the table. They will be looking to continue their recent good form against a Frankfurt side that is also enjoying a good start to the season.</p> Bayer currently lie fourth, six points behind Bayer, while Eintracht are two points further behind.</p> </p> Thomas Doll</p> </p>
