Bayern Munich's Thomas Mueller says there is no need to panic as the Bundesliga leaders look to get back to winning ways when it plays Eintracht Frankfurt away on Saturday. Bayern dropped its first league points of the season after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Cologne a fortnight ago, four days after its Champions League defeat at Atletico Madrid.
Bayern has 16 points, a possible 18, but two games without a win equates to something of a mini-crisis for Bayern, who is three points ahead of Hertha Berlin in the table. However, the slight dip in form is not a concern for Germany forward Mueller.
"With a new coach, we won all of our first eight games, but not our last two and suddenly there's a fire under the roof again," he said. "We're still top of the table, will certainly qualify for the knock-out stages of the Champions League, so there is no need to paint everything black."
Frankfurt lost at Freiburg two weeks ago, but is unbeaten at home in its last six matches. Eintracht has failed to score in its last eight games against Bayern, dating back to 2011, and Munich has won seven of those league encounters with one goalless draw.
After its Madrid disappointment, Bayern need a convincing display ahead of next Wednesday's European clash at home to PSV Eindhoven. The Frankfurt match is set to see Bayern's Robert Lewandowski and Eintracht's Alexander Meier go head to head.
The attacking duo have dominated the league's goalscoring charts for the last three years. Germany defender Joshua Kimmich has scored five goals in his last six matches for Bayern, but Mueller is still waiting to score his first league goal of the season, despite having netted four times for his country.
Hertha is in good form and its 2-0 defeat at Bayern last month is its only loss this term while striker Vedad Ibisevic has scored five goals. Victory over Hertha would set a new club record of 25 home matches without defeat for Dortmund.
Having broken its run of five straight defeats to climb off the bottom of the table, Schalke 04 is at Augsburg on Saturday as its coach Markus Weinzierl returns to his former club. Schalke hammered Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-0 last time out with new signing Breel Embolo scoring twice to bump Schalke up to 16th.
Having assumed Schalke's place at the bottom, Hamburg is at Moenchengladbach this weekend. New coach Markus Gisdol is looking for Hamburg's first win of the season in his second game in charge, while Gladbach will target a boost ahead of Wednesday's Champions League match at Celtic. Along with Bayern, Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig are the only teams in Germany's top flight that are still unbeaten.
Hoffenheim host Freiburg on Saturday in the south German derby while Leipzig is at Wolfsburg on Sunday.
Fixtures (all times 1900 IST unless stated)
Saturday: Borussia Moenchengladbach v Hamburg; Cologne v Ingolstadt; Augsburg v Schalke; Hoffenheim v Freiburg; Eintracht Frankfurt v Bayern Munich; Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (2200)
Sunday: Mainz v Darmstadt; Wolfsburg v RB Leipzig (2100)
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