Bundesliga preview: Can Fortuna stop runaway leaders Bayern?

Leaders Bayern Munich host Fortuna Dusseldorf while Borussia Dortmund visit Schalke in this weekend’s Bundesliga action.

Bayern are beginning to resemble a runaway freight train this season, 17 points ahead of Dortmund in the league and already having one foot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League after their 3-1 round-of-16 first-leg victory over Arsenal in London.

Their 1-0 win over Dortmund in the quarter-finals of the DFB Pokal means Jupp Heynckes’ men are in with a realistic chance of claiming a historic treble – setting some bar for incoming coach Pep Guardiola to try and emulate.

Bayern could only manage a 1-0 win over Hoffenheim in their last match, and they could have one eye on next Wednesday’s second-leg encounter with Arsenal in the Champions League during Saturday’s meeting with Fortuna.

But Bayern have won 15 successive matches in all competitions, and it seems nothing will stop them from marching to their 23rd German top-flight title.

Dortmund, meanwhile, journey to Schalke, who are continuing to claw their way up the table under new boss Jens Keller.

Keller took over from the sacked Huub Stevens in December and although he found the going tough at first, the club – who are still in the Champions League and took a 1-1 draw at Galatasaray in the first leg of their round-of-16 clash – are unbeaten in their past three Bundesliga matches.

Dortmund are also still campaigning in Europe’s elite competition, and they cruised to a 3-0 second-leg win over win Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday to book their place in the last eight.

Third-placed Bayer Leverkusen, one point behind Dortmund, travel to eighth-placed Mainz on Saturday, while Freiburg host Wolfsburg.

Other Saturday matches see Werder Bremen journey to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Greuther Fuerth welcome Hoffenheim in a battle of the bottom two sides, while the round of matches begins on Friday night when 16th-placed Augsburg host Nuremberg, who are 13th.

On Sunday, Hannover entertain Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburg journey to Stuttgart.