Munich, Germany (SportsNetwork.com) - Bayern Munich will aim to extend its winning streak to five matches across all competitions on Saturday when the club welcomes Hoffenheim to the Allianz Arena.
The defending Bundesliga champions return to league play following the international break on top of the table with 27 points, four clear of second- place Wolfsburg.
Pep Guardiola's squad is coming off a comfortable 4-0 thrashing of Eintracht Frankfurt and looking to extend their lead atop the Bundesliga standings.
Last time out, it took just 22 minutes for the Bavarians to get on the scoreboard as World Cup winner Thomas Muller found the back of the net and doubled his club's lead in the 64th minute off an assist from Franck Ribery.
Three minutes later Muller completed his hat trick and Switzerland international Xherdan Shaqiri added the fourth tally with four minutes to play, sending Eintracht to its fifth straight defeat.
Bayern will still be missing some key players on Saturday as Philipp Lahm, David Alaba, Thiago, Holger Badstuber, Javi Martinez, Claudio Pizarro, Tom Starke and Pepe Reina are all unlikely to feature, but Muller is set to return after picking up a knock in training.
"There's nothing to stop me playing," Muller said. "The fans need have no worries. "We're FC Bayern and we'll always send out a competitive team. I don't think it's as dramatic as it's being made out to be. We're up for it."
Hoffenheim, meanwhile, comes into the match riding a two-match losing streak, but finds itself in fifth place in the Bundesliga with 17 points.
Last time out, the club battled to a disappointing 4-3 loss to Cologne courtesy of an 83rd-minute winner by Pawel Olkowski.
Despite coming in relatively out of form, Guardiola warned not to overlook Hoffenheim.
"They have outstanding strikers," said Guardiola. "We had a lot of trouble with their pressing high up the field. He is urging his team to do better this time. We still have six Bundesliga and two Champions League matches before Christmas. It's an important period and we can take another step forward."
"Bayern will lose a home game again at some point," said Hoffenheim head coach Markus Gisdol. "I don't know whether it'll be against us, but we'll try everything we can and not write off the points before it's started."
Also in the Bundesliga on Saturday, second-place Wolfsburg will aim for a ninth consecutive win across all competitions when the club travels to the Veltins Arena to face Schalke.
Borussia Monchengladbach will hope to snap a two-match slide across all competitions with a win over Eintracht at Borussia Park, while Mainz welcomes Freiburg to the Coface Arena.
Bayer Leverkusen travels to the AWD Arena to face Hannover, Paderborn hosts Borussia Dortmund at the Benteler Arena and Cologne hosts Hertha Berlin at the Olympic Stadium.
On Sunday, Hamburg battles Werder Bremen at the Imtech Arena, while Stuttgart welcomes Augsburg to the Mercedes Benz Arena.
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