Bayer Leverkusen will be out to close the eight-point gap at the Bundesliga summit when they welcome leaders Bayern Munich to the BayArena on Saturday. 

Leverkusen, the defending champions, stumbled in their last league fixture, playing out a goalless draw with Wolfsburg, which Vincent Kompany's side capitalised on. 

Two goals from Harry Kane and a Leroy Sane strike earned Bayern a 3-0 win over Wolfsburg as they aim to reestablish their dominance in the German top-flight. 

But Xabi Alonso's team hold a significant advantage heading into this weekend's clash, having automatically qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League. 

Bayern, meanwhile, were in action on Wednesday, coming away with a slender 2-1 advantage over Celtic in their Champions League play-off first leg tie. 

The Opta supercomputer favours Bayern in this weekend's clash, handing them a 42.4% chance of winning, while Leverkusen won 32.2% of the data-led simulations. 

It also predicts that Kompany will guide Bayern to a 34th Bundesliga title, with 90.3% of the simulations seeing Die Roten finish top. Leverkusen, meanwhile, are given just a 9.7% chance of defending their crown. 

But Leverkusen have had the better of this fixture of late, enjoying a five-game unbeaten run against Bayern in all competitions for the very first time (W3 D2). 

The last German club to go longer without losing to Bayern was Hamburger from 2007 to 2009 (six games), and Alonso will be keen to keep that record going. 

After a slow start to the season, Leverkusen have won 46 points from their 21 league games, a total only bettered by their title-winning campaign at this stage (55). 

However, they have history against them. Since the three points for a win was introduced, no side has ever made up an eight-point gap to the leaders after 21 matches. 

"We know our current position and look forward to the game," said Leverkusen midfielder Granit Xhaka.

"It is a special match for the entire country and we have to do our job and see what we get after 90 minutes.

"Even last season one of our strengths was not to look at the standings too much.

"We know we have to beat Bayern to stay in the race and we are not going into this game to get a draw," he told broadcaster Sky.

"It is in our hands to step on the gas and believe in success," Xhaka said.

Furthermore, Alonso has become the first Bundesliga coach to go unbeaten in his first five competitive games against Bayern. 

He has the best points-per-game average in Bundesliga history of any non-Bayern coach. Only Kompany himself boasts a better PPG average in the top-flight (2.57). 

But Bayern come into the game with confidence.

They have won each of their last seven league games, their longest winning streak in the Bundesliga since between February and September 2020 (14 games).

Bayern have also scored a league-high 65 goals in the Bundesliga this season, though Leverkusen have the second most with 49.

What has been made even more impressive about Kompany's side is their ability to perform without key players, with those absentees set to return in the coming weeks. 

In another intriguing Bundesliga fixture this weekend, Borussia Dortmund will be hoping to build on their first win under new coach Niko Kovac when they visit Bochum. 

Dortmund took a huge step towards the last 16 of the Champions League with a 3-0 win over Sporting CP, but it has been in the league where they have struggled. 

They are 11th in the standings on 29 points, seven points adrift of the top four and run the risk of missing out on the European spots all together next season. 

Indeed, this is Dortmund’s worst Bundesliga season in 10 years at this stage of a campaign (22 points in 2014-15, Jurgen Klopp’s final season). 

Their tally of 36 goals conceded represents their joint worst defensive record at this stage since 2000 too (same as 2021-22 and 2007-08).

BVB have also collected a joint league-low four points in 2025 (level with Hoffenheim and Heidenheim), and need wins on the board quickly.