Borussia
Dortmund have the chance to hibernate in record-breaking fashion if
they win their Bundesliga match at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.

Another success would give Dortmund 46 points from 17 games at the
halfway mark, two more than Bayern Munich managed in the 2005-06
campaign.

Dortmund have won all eight games away from home in the season which
is also a record. They are unbeaten since losing the season- opener 2-0
against Bayer Leverkusen, and the only other dropped points came in a
1-1 home draw against Hoffenheim.

Dortmund have an 11-point lead, another milestone at this stage of the season, over their nearest rival Leverkusen.

However, victory is not a foregone conclusion for Juergen Klopp's
Dortmund as they are coming off the disappointment of crashing out of
the Europa League from a 2-2 draw at Sevilla on Wednesday.

"We don't have to be ashamed," said Dortmund managing director
Hans-Joachim Watzke, saying that the young team paid for its
inexperience on the continent.

The game in Spain highlighted that Dortmund are slowly running out of
steam as their last Bundesliga games were also not as convincing as
earlier in the season when Nuri Sahin, Shinji Kagawa, Kevin Grosskreutz
and others dazzled the scene.

The four-week winter break will be welcomed with open arms by the
players to recharge their batteries. Given their exit from the Europa
League, and the German cup as well earlier, the team can then
concentrate fully on preserving the lead from mid-January onwards.

All rivals, by contrast, can only hope that the hibernation period freezes Dortmund's momentum.

Leverkusen are second on 32 points ahead of Hanover (31), Mainz (30),
Freiburg (27) and indifferent champions Bayern Munich (26).

Most pundits don't expect Hanover, Mainz and Freiburg to keep the
pace until the end, which leaves Leverkusen and Munich as the likely
candidates to fight for second place - or more if Dortmund meet
disaster.

Leverkusen host Freiburg on Sunday. The same day Munich have the
first match of their league and cup double header at ailing VfB
Stuttgart.

Stuttgart languish in the drop zone and Bruno Labbadia makes his
debut as the team's third coach this season after the weekend exit of
Jens Keller.

"We need to have faith in ourselves," said Labbadia.

Labbadia's previous club SV Hamburg is also struggling, in midtable,
having lost the last four away games and the last two games overall
going into a Friday night date at bottom club Borussia Moenchengladbach.

The other matches, all on Saturday, are improving Schalke v Cologne,
Werder Bremen v Kaiserslautern, VfL Wolfsburg v Hoffenheim, Nuremberg v
Hanover and St Pauli Hamburg v Mainz.

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