With only five points between first and fifth, and the relegation zone still open to many teams, the 2008/09 Bundesliga season has come down to all teams requiring maximum points from the remaining three games.
Overnight, four of the nine midweek fixtures will be played, including top-two teams, Bayern Munich and VfL Wolfsburg, playing at home to Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund, respectively.
A loss to both home sides – who sit equal on 60 points, with Wolfsburg holding a goal difference two more than Bayern – will blow the top spot wide open for Hertha BSC Berlin (currently on 59 points), and VfB Stuttgart (58 points).
A win for Dortmund will allow them to be within two points of their opponents, and possibly two points away from league victory.
Chances look good for Dortmund at the Volkswagen Arena – currently on a 7-game winning streak – against Wolfsburg, who was recently on the receiving end of a devastating 4-1 defeat against Stuttgart.
Wolfsburg have an impressively strong home record, however, which includes a 4-0 win to Hoffenheim in their most recent home fixture, and a 5-1 demolishing of Bayern Munich, which included the wonder goal from Wolfsburg’s Brazilian striker Grafite, which is being called goal of the year by many.
Despite Bayern’s modest run through all campaigns this season, including a crushing 4-0 loss to Barcelona in the Champions League, and seeing the release of manager Juergen Klinsmann, they have managed to maintain a second place position.
With four wins out of their five most recent fixtures, Bayern have caught up to Wolfsburg on the table, who have suffered two losses in three games, after an impressive ten game winning streak.
At the other end of the table, Karlsruher SC, who sits at the bottom on 23 points, will be hoping for a miracle and maximum points in the remaining games, being four points behind FC Energie Cottbus, DSC Arminia Bielefeld, and Borussia Monchengladbach, all on 27 points.
VfL Bochum is also threatened by the relegation zone, not managing to claim any points in their last four matches, and currently sitting at fourteenth with 28 points.
Werder Bremen have seen mid-table mediocrity, currently tenth on 42 points.
Four points will see the team stay tenth or higher, with only the possibility to drop three positions, still well above the relegation zone.
Bremen play away against Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday night.
Prior to Stuttgart’s win over Wolfsburg, strikers Grafite and Edin Dzeko held first and second respectively on the goal scoring table, effectively naming the Wolfsburg duo as the deadliest strike force in the league.
Stuttgart striker Mario Gomez’s stunning four goals on the weekend has seen him rise up to joint first with Grafite.
Munich will have to keep an eye on Leverkusen’s Patrick Helmes, who has scored 20 goals in the campaign, equal to Dzeko. Luca Toni has proven to be Bayern’s strongest goal scorer, having scored twelve goals in the season.
It could also be the first time we see a team like VfL Wolfsburg qualify for the Champions League, who qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time last year, ultimately being knocked out by Paris Saint-Germain in February on a 5-1 aggregate.
With such a small space between the top-six teams and little room for error, it is unlikely that we will see anyone crowned as champions before the final fixture on May 23.
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