All eyes are gravitating southwards this weekend

As ever, there are nine games in the Bundesliga this weekend, but only one of them will go a long way to deciding anything: Bayern vs Schalke.

Currently nine points off of table-topping Schalke in fourth, this is make or break time for Bayern. Win, and they will close the gap to six points with seven games left. Draw, and all title hopes will be lost, plus they won’t be able to overtake Stuttgart in third for that vital CL qualifying place. Lose, and they might start having to look down, rather than up, in the hope of any European competition at all next season.

Schalke, on the other hand, have been sounding off over the past fortnight. Vastly underrated Brazilian defender Marcelo Bordon referred to Bayern as not being the Bayern of old ie nothing to be scared of. Comeback player of the season Kevin Kuranyi, who didn’t even make the World Cup squad, yet scored both goals against the Czech Republic and captained Germany on Wednesday night, uttered similar sentiments along with a lot of talk about it being Schalke’s year. Further encouragement was given to them by their right back Rafinha, who this week signed a contract extension to 2011.

Unusually, Bayern have been very quiet this week. As it is rare for a week to go by without Uli Höness, Franz Beckenbauer or Karl-Heinz Rummenigge mouthing off about something that’s wrong with either a) the state of the DFB or b) themselves, depending on how well they’re doing. This could well be ominous for Schalke – expect to see Bayern at their most rugged and determined. Or they really have given up hope and will concentrate their firepower on the Champions League. My arse is beginning to hurt from all this fence sitting…

Tonight’s game is a relegation six pointer – Beilefeld vs Dortmund (who certainly didn’t expect to be mentioned in this way at the start of the season). Tomorrow, Stuttgart pick up their CL campaign to home to Aachen, Bremen likewise away against Cottbus, Leverkusen their UEFA Cup campaign to Mainz, Hertha Berlin try and improve on the second worst away record in the league in Nürnberg and Mönchengladbach continue their relegation right against Frankfurt. HSV v Wolfsburg and Bochum vs Hannover are Sunday’s rather non-descript match ups.

The current table....