Bayer Leverkusen lead the Bundesliga pack and face an unusual top-of-the-table clash with third-placed Hannover at the BayArena today.
It is a turn around in fortunes for Bayer who were winless and down in 14th spot at the same stage last season.
Klaus Augenthaler's golden touch, he has won all four games in charge at Leverkusen, continues with the 2002 Champions League finalists full of confidence after picking up the maximum six points.
"I'm convinced that we'll still be leading the table on Saturday evening," said German international Oliver Neuville.
Hannover will hope to end Augenthaler's run with a repeat of last season's 3-1 win at the BayArena.
Czech midfielder Jan Simak will be one player with added incentive to turn in a good display against Leverkusen.
Simak, 24, endured a torrid campaign with Bayer last term and was loaned out to former employer Hannover for the 2003/04 season.
"I've always known what I can do and I'm not finished by a long way," warned Simak, contracted at Leverkusen until 2007
Striker Thomas Bradric also returns to his old stomping ground after leaving the BayArena in the close season.
Borussia Dortmund were knocked off top spot after Leverkusen's 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt and Matthias Sammer will be confident of taking all three points from the tie with 1860 Munich at the Westfalen Stadium.
A 2-1 Champions League qualifier defeat by Club Brugge infuriated Sammer who claimed his charges were full of "self-contentment" in Belgium.
"A disease called self-contentment has returned to the team," declared the 1996 European Championship winner.
Dortmund cruised past VfL Wolfsburg 4-0 in their last Bundesliga match and Sammer will hope his players are cured for today's encounter.
Bayern Munich are set to hand 18.75-million-euro capture Roy Makaay his eagerly-anticipated Bundesliga debut against VfL Bochum at the Olympic Stadium today.
The 28-year-old Dutchman donned the Bayern jersey in Tuesday's 2-0 win over Nuremberg and is poised to make his entrance at a venue where Bayern are unbeaten since April 12, when they lost 1-0 to Werder Bremen.
Claudio Pizarro and Giovane Elber will be vying to partner him in attack with Peruvian having the edge after two goals in the opening two matches.
Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld must do without the services of talisman Michael Ballack who has been unable to train due to a calf complaint.
Kaiserslautern have won the last five matches at the Fritz-Walter Stadium against Werder Bremen and will hope to build on the 2-1 win over Cologne last Saturday.
Having wiped out their three-point deficit Erik Geret's team will be looking to register some points while Bremen will hope Bundesliga top-scorer Ailton can add to his three goals so far.
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
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