Bayern Munich have threatened to turn the Bundesliga title race into an uneventful contest after seeing their form steadily improve in recent weeks.

Ahead of Saturday's meeting with Hannover at the Allianz Arena, the defending champions are sitting on top of the table with a two-point advantage over Borussia Monchengladbach.

The side's condition may have been a concern following the trip to face CSKA Moscow in the Champions League on Tuesday, but fortunately for Pep Guardiola, there were no casualties in the 1-0 triumph.

However, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thiago Alcantara and Holger Badstuber are still on the sidelines, while Guardiola is yet to reveal whether Franck Ribery is ready to make a second return from a knee injury.

All of that means that Guardiola could just make one change to the side that beat CSKA, with Jerome Boateng in line to return in defence.

Many observers are expecting a comfortable win for Bayern, but Hannover have shown signs in the early stages of the season that they have the ability to cause the champions problems.

Despite keeping faith with a small number of players so far in the current campaign, Tayfun Korkut is expected to make changes after his side's disappointing display in the 1-0 loss to Stuttgart last weekend.

Summer signing Jimmy Briand is one player who has been tipped to be given a start in Bavaria after coming off the bench against Stuttgart.

Recent form

Bayern Munich: WDWDWW

Hannover: WDWLWL

Possible starting lineups

Bayern Munich: Neuer, Alonso, Boateng, Benatia, Alaba, Robben, Bernat, Götze, Lahm, Müller, Lewandowski

Hannover: Zieler, Gulselam, Sakai, Schulz, Marcelo, Albornoz, Bittencourt, Kiyotake, Andreasen, Briand, Joselu

Sports Mole says: 2-0

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