Bayern Munich will look to continue their Bundesliga dominance on Saturday when they travel to second-placed Bayer Leverkusen.
The Bavarian giants are coming off the back of an impressive 5-0 mauling of bottom-placed Energie Cottbus which took their goal tally to 21 in just seven games.
"I am very pleased with our development," said coach Ottmar Hitzfeld.
"We have met, if not succeeded the expectations thus far. If we can get past Leverkusen on Saturday, we will be doing very well."
Bayern's most prominent feature this season has been their potent strike force with Miroslav Klose notching eight goals and Luca Toni chipping in with five.
"We're fortunate that our strikers have been finding the target from the first day of the season on and did not need time to settle in," Hitzfeld added.
Hitzfeld needs to replace Willy Sagnol (knee), Jose Ernesto Sosa (ankle), Philipp Lahm (knee) and Valerien Ismael (unfit) for the match with 17-year-old talent Toni Kroos, who set up two goals in his Bundesliga debut against Cottbus, not travelling.
Munich take their three-point league lead to the BayArena where Leverkusen have emerged as the surprise outfit of the season.
Back-to-back victories at Hannover and Nurnberg have lifted the Rhine outfit all the way to the second spot but sports director Rudi Voller believes his young team cannot keep up with Bayern just yet.
"We are certainly looking forward to the match, but we are no Bayern hunters. We leave that to the likes of Schalke, Bremen and Stuttgart," he said.
"It is our ambition to play internationally next season. We have a young team which has still a lot of learning to do."
But striker Stefan Kiessling, who was on target in the last two matches, believes Leverkusen got it what takes to stun the visitors.
"If we keep up our concentration, we can beat Bayern," he vowed. "They are vulnerable."
Paul Freier (Achilles), Carsten Ramelow (meniscus), Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker (knee surgery) and Ricardo Faty (unfit) will all be missing for Leverkusen.
