Bundesliga week 27

Saturday:
Hoffenheim v Bochum
Dortmund v Cologne
Energie v Arminia
Monchengladbach v Wolfsburg
Hannover v Hertha
Bayern v Eintracht
Schalke v Karlsruhe
Sunday:
Leverkusen v Bremen
Stuttgart v Hamburg

New leaders Wolfsburg take their seemingly unstoppable bandwagon to Monchengladbach this week and it couldn't come at a worse time for the home side. Desperate for points after their mini-revival came to an abrupt halt over the last couple of weeks, Gladbach remain rooted in trouble despite vastly improved performances. Felix Magath's rampant Wolves will arrive in Gladbach full of confidence after their trouncing of Bayern and look good for the points. Hamburg remain level with Wolfsburg on points, but back up from their comfortable outing against Man City with a tricky trip to Stuttgart where Markus Babbel's good performances have secured him a deal through to the end of 2010. Trouble is that Stuttgart blow so hot and cold it's difficult to tell which one will turn up. One thing is for sure; Hamburg will have their work cut out to keep pace with the new leaders. A win for Stuttgart here and they're genuine contenders all of a sudden.

Hertha should get back to winning ways over Hannover while Bayern will hope to erase the concession of nine goals in two games - admittedly against two of the best attacking sides on the continent - with a straightforward looking fixture against Eintracht who have little to nothing to play for. Hoffenheim are in danger of not just slipping out of the title race, but out of the European picture altogether, but a home game against Bochum should be a good opportunity to get their first league win since the winter break.

With eight games to go, Karlsruhe are staring down the barrel of relegation as they are now six away from safety. They face Schalke this week with the Gelsenkirchen side having just one thing to play for: finishing ahead of Dortmund. At the moment, the Ruhr rivals are separated by just one goal and Dortmund have the visit of Cologne to look forward to this week. Cologne are a little too close to the bottom for comfort, but they are far to good to go down and this game promises to be quite a physical tussle. Bremen go to Leverkusen buoyed by their 3-1 UEFA Cup win over Udinese. Should they repeat the trick here, Leverkusen can forget about getting anything out of a frustrating campaign - especially so given their precocious young bucks up front - while for Bremen, the UEFA Cup is their best chance of glory.

The big one at the bottom sees Arminia go to Cottbus. A win for Bielefeld and they're clear of danger for the time being, but should Energie get the points, then it's all to play for in the closing stages.