Borussia Monchengladbach host Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga on Friday with the visitors looking to remain top of the table with a victory.
Gladbach, meanwhile, lie four points outside of the Champions League qualification positions, and may need to go on a winning run at some point soon to get themselves back within them.
Match preview
Indeed, despite qualifying for the Champions League knockout stage for the first time in the club's history, it has been a slightly stuttering domestic season for Gladbach so far.
Marco Rose's side have drawn more games than they have won, with their peerless home record of previous seasons faltering a little this time around. Saturday's 1-0 win at Arminia Bielefeld took their away points tally ahead of their record at home, with Breel Embolo's third league goal of the season enough to earn a crucial three points.
Rose will hope that the 23-year-old's cool finish will help him become more relaxed in front of goal, with no player in the Bundesliga missing more clear cut chances this season. There is no doubt Embolo remains a raw talent, as evidenced by him striking the post when through on goal and firing the more difficult rebound into the side netting in the first half. He also carelessly lost the ball on the halfway line, with Sergio Cordova inches away from punishing him with a well-struck effort from the edge of the area.
However, with Marcus Thuram suspended for spitting and Alassane Plea seemingly considered to be more of a rotational option these days, Embolo's pace and power makes him worth sticking with. Most strikers will tell you they would rather be missing chances than not having them at all, and the Swiss international certainly possesses the tools to hurt Bayern in transition on Friday evening.
Rose will certainly have gained plenty of insight into how to beat Bayern on Sunday, despite the Bavarians overcoming struggling Mainz 05 5-2 in what ultimately represented a flattering scoreline.
Hansi Flick's side's lead at the top of the Bundesliga looked under serious threat when they headed into the half-time interval two goals down, with former Huddersfield Town manager Jan Siewert's first and only match in charge as interim boss looking like being a major success story. Bayern's usual vulnerabilities in transition remained, with Jonathan Burkhardt racing in behind to put Bayern behind for the eighth consecutive game, before Alexander Hack doubled Mainz's lead from a set-piece.
However, Bayern still looked excellent offensively, with Robert Lewandowski and Leroy Sane going close early on. In Manuel Neuer, too, they still have the world's greatest goalkeeper, with Danny Latza stunned by the German stopper's save to keep his side in the game early in the second half. Robert Quaison struck the bar from distance, but from there Bayern never looked back, with Joshua Kimmich marking his first start since returning from injury with a close-range headed goal, before Sane levelled proceedings with a superb strike from outside of the area.
Niklas Sule's deflected effort put the hosts ahead before Lewandowski typically struck twice to put the gloss on a ropey performance, which will have only increased Gladbach's confidence of gaining a result against the European champions.
Borussia Monchengladbach Bundesliga form: WDDDLW
Borussia Monchengladbach form (all competitions): LDDLWW
Bayern Munich Bundesliga form: WDDWWW
Bayern Munich form (all competitions): DWDWWW
Team News
Gladbach will miss Thuram for another three matches after the forward was caught spitting against Hoffenheim, with Plea likely to return to the starting XI having been used from the bench in Bielefeld.
Rose was boosted by the return of Jonas Hofmann after the German international recovered from a thigh injury, but Valentino Lazaro will miss out on the visit of Bayern due to injury.
Fringe players Rocco Reitz, Torben Musel, Famana Quizera and Jan Olschowsky are also ruled out of action for the hosts.
Bayern, meanwhile, are without youngsters Joshua Zirkzee and Tanguy Nianzou, but otherwise appear to have a clean bill of health for the trip to Monchengladbach.
Kimmich and Alphonso Davies appear to be fully fit having started in the win against Mainz, with Leon Goretzka used from the bench as the midfielder looks to shake off his muscular issues.
Flick must choose between Benjamin Pavard and Sule at right-back, with the nominal centre-back impressing out of position in recent matches, and Sane and Kingsley Coman on the opposite flank to Serge Gnabry.
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Lainer, Ginter, Elvedi, Wendt; Kramer, Neuhas; Plea, Stindl, Hofmann; Embolo
Bayern Munich possible starting lineup:
Neuer; Sule, Boateng, Alaba, Davies; Goretzka, Kimmich; Coman, Muller, Gnabry; Lewandowski
We say: Borussia Monchengladbach 1-3 Bayern Munich
We can envisage a hugely entertaining Friday night game at Borussia Park, with the hosts certainly possessing the weaponry to attack a vulnerable Bayern backline.
However, the Bavarians are likely to prove too strong going the other way for Rose's side, whose clean sheet at a toothless Arminia outfit was their first in the league since October.
