Bundesliga braced for summit meeting

The Bundesliga's only two undefeated sides go head to head on Saturday with FC Bayern München and FC Schalke 04 looking to keep those fine records intact.

Historical woe
Schalke coach Mirko Slomka announced confidently: "There are teams on a par with Bayern - Hamburger [SV], Werder Bremen, [VfB] Stuttgart and ourselves. We haven't managed to score a goal at the new stadium in Munich in the Bundesliga. We can, and will, change that. You don't get many chances against Bayern. Oliver Kahn has only had to deal with five shots on his goal so far. You've got to be ice-cold if you want to win." History is certainly not in Schalke's favour as they have managed only one win in Munich in the last 20 years.

Injury issues
To add to their worries, German international Christian Pander is a doubt after suffering a thigh strain against Wales with Slomka already missing defensive duo of Mathias Abel and Mladen Krstajić. Ottmar Hitzfeld has similar problems though. Argentina's Martín Demichelis has a back problem and his defensive partner Lucio is not due back in Germany until Friday after travelling to the United States with Brazil. However, they are more likely to play than Luca Toni, who only returned to team training on Thursday following a thigh injury. "It will be a close and last-minute call as to whether or not he can play," admitted Hitzfeld.

Podolski prepared
Should Toni fail to recover Lukas Podolski is raring to go after his stunning midweek strike for Germany against Romania. "Lukas is improving from minute to minute. He impressed me and his goal will give him an added shove forward," added Hitzfeld. Another subplot is the duel between the Altıntop brothers - Bayern's Halil and Schalke's Hamit - with the pair set to face each other for the first time since breaking on to the Bundesliga scene. Schalke striker Kevin Kuranyi has upped the pressure on his team and declared: "A defeat would leave us seven points behind Bayern - that would be far too many."