Schalke manager Felix Magath is preparing to do battle with the team he guided to a maiden Bundesliga title last season. Schalke host Wolfsburg at the Arena AufSchalke tomorrow, and all eyes will be on Magath who has taken the winning mentality with him to Gelsenkirchen.

Magath already appears to have turned a misfiring Schalke side into title candidates after losing just one game in five at the start of the season to sit third in the table. Wolfsburg, meanwhile, have struggled in the league under new coach Armin Veh, with three straight losses a serious cause for concern.

The Wolves' mood will have been improved by a solid 3-1 win over CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Champions League in midweek, a match in which Brazilian striker Grafite hit a hat-trick, but Veh conceded he still has a tough act to follow.

"The first year after winning the title is always the hardest," said Veh, who led Stuttgart to the title in 2007 only to be sacked 18 months later. "We have got to be careful that everybody does not start to think that they are automatically better because they are champions."

In an attempt to play down the achievements of his predecessor, he added in an interview with the Zeit newspaper that Wolfsburg could so easily have failed to qualify for Europe last season.

"Just take a look at the games from last season once again," he said.  "They could easily have lost three or four of those games and then they would have been eighth.  That is how tight the league is. Every team up there can win the league and they were not much worse, if they were worse at all."

Bayern Munich were one of three clubs still contesting the title on the final day of the season, although they will be hoping to have the title wrapped up early this time.

Coach Louis van Gaal has celebrated back-to-back victories, with his side scoring eight goals in the process, taking them up to fifth in the table thanks to the arrival of Arjen Robben and the return to action of Franck Ribery.  They host Nurnberg in a Bavarian derby on Saturday when they can move as high as third with another victory.

League leaders Hamburg are not in action until Sunday when they travel to high-flying Eintracht Frankfurt while joint-leaders Bayer Leverkusen are in action the same day at home to Werder Bremen.

Struggling Cologne, who have picked up just a point so far this season, go in search of their first win at Stuttgart on Saturday. In the event of a Cologne win, Hertha Berlin would find themselves at the foot of the table when they host fellow strugglers Freiburg on Sunday.

Elsewhere, Hannover host Borussia Dortmund, Mainz travel to Bochum and Hoffenheim are the visitors to the Borussia Park in Monchengladbach.