Bayer Leverkusen have the chance to clinch the unofficial title of autumn champions in the Bundesliga this weekend with a win over struggling Hertha Berlin.
Leverkusen have set a new league record of going the first 15 games of the season unbeaten and can all but mathematically secure top spot ahead of Werder Bremen and Schalke with a win over the league's bottom club Hertha tomorrow.
However, their experienced coach Jupp Heynckes knows nothing can be taken for granted in football and has warned against breaking open the champagne too soon.
"The league table has absolutely no influence over our preparations for this game," he said.
"Anything is possible in football. A game is never lost before it is played, just like it is never won in advance.
"We are preparing in a way that the team can call up a good performance again and play like they have done for much of the first half of the season so far."
Berlin have not won since the opening day of the season and know already that they will be propping up the rest of the division during the winter break, no matter what happens with their last two matches of 2009.
A win for Leverkusen tomorrow night would see them move six points clear at the top of the table with a goal dfference at least three superior to Bremen's and 12 better than Schalke's, and those two sides meet at the Weser Stadion on Saturday evening.
Bayern Munich therefore have the chance to move up to second on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Bochum buoyed by a four-game winning streak which has also seen them qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League, thanks to a 4-1 triumph over Juventus on Tuesday.
Should Louis van Gaal's side make it five wins in a row, they will move into a position they last held in May.
Below Bayern, six clubs are packed within only three points with the next few games likely to separate the men from the boys.
Borussia Dortmund certainly look to have matured after an eight-game unbeaten streak lifted them to seventh in the table, above their hosts on Sunday, Wolfsburg.
The Wolves will be looking to bounce back from their midweek elimination from the Champions League, although history will tell them that defeat would not necessarily mean the end of their title aspirations.
Last season, they ended the first half of the season in ninth position, but they still went on to win the league with 14 wins from their last 17 games.
Stuttgart were the second-best team during the second half of last season, but they are currently the second-worst, along with Nurnberg.
But a change in coach with Christian Gross replacing Markus Babbel seems to have inspired them as they, like Bayern, qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League in midweek.
On Sunday, they travel to Mainz looking for a much-needed win in the Bundesliga.
Elsewhere, Hoffenheim host Eintracht Frankfurt, Cologne head for Freiburg and Borussia Monchengladbach welcome Hannover to the Borussia Park.
Finally, Hamburg go in search of their first Bundesliga win in eight attempts when they travel to Nurnberg.
