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SC Freiburg faces the sternest test of their unbeaten record this season when they travel to league leaders FC Bayern München on Saturday.
Christian Streich’s men are the only remaining side yet to lose a game after ten rounds of Bundesliga fixtures and they will travel from the Black Forest to the Allianz Arena in a confident mood, looking to add to their club-record haul of 22 points from the first 10 matches and throw a spanner in the works of the record champions’ quest for a tenth straight league title.
“It’s great to be able to travel to Munich for a top-of-the-table clash and challenge to go level with them on points,” said the charismatic Streich as he prepares for a game he will be setting his side up to win, using Borussia Mönchengladbach’s recent DFB Cup win over the Bavarians as an example of how it can be done.
“It’s always best to face up to them with courage,” he said. “When you play courageously and are very well structured, with a lot of passion and cleverness, you stand a chance against any team. [Gladbach’s win] showed that, and we’ll try our chances too.”
Borussia Dortmund would stand to benefit should Bayern stumble, but they face a tricky trip to RB Leipzig on Saturday evening for a fixture which, over recent years, has become an intriguing battle between the two clubs who have come the closest to challenging the record champions’ supremacy.
Both will be keen to bounce back from UEFA Champions League disappointments in midweek and confirm their credentials as credible challengers to Bayern’s throne.
A gap has opened up between the top three and fourth-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who are in action on Sunday at Hertha BSC Berlin, but they may no longer be occupying that final Champions League qualifying berth by the time they take to the field.
Instead, Bo Svensson’s in-form 1. FSV Mainz 05 have the opportunity to enter the territory they last charted in the Jürgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel days, with a win over Gladbach on Friday night enough to take them above Die Werkself and continue their remarkable transformation since Svensson took charge less than a year ago, with the 05ers appearing destined for relegation.
They and Freiburg are not the only surprise packages after ten rounds of matches, though, with Union Berlin behind them only on goal difference. Urs Fischer takes his men to Cologne on Sunday as they continue to confirm that qualifying for Europe last season was no one-season wonder.
Meanwhile, Florian Kohfeldt takes charge of his first Bundesliga home game in charge of VfL Wolfsburg bidding to make it a hat-trick of wins since replacing Mark van Bommel. They welcome FC Augsburg to the Volkswagen Arena having revived their domestic and European challenges with back-to-back wins over Leverkusen and Red Bull Salzburg in Kohfeldt’s first week in charge.
At the bottom of the table, SpVgg Greuther Fürth will look to recover from the worst opening ten games of a season in league history, with just one point and a 20 goal difference, when they host Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday, while Arminia Bielefeld will aim to reduce their four-point deficit on safety when they travel to VfB Stuttgart.
Finally, Saturday’s other game sees VfL Bochum host TSG 1899 Hoffenheim with the guests on the rise again after beating Hertha last weekend.
