Foals After unbeaten starts to the Bundesliga for both teams, they'll be hoping to end each other's record on Sunday.

Image credit: Bayern Munich

Borussia Mönchengladbach take on Bayern Munich this Sunday, aiming to close the gap on Pep Guardiola's men to just a point.

The hosts have made an incredible start to the season and have defied the 'Europa League football ruins domestic seasons' adage. So many times, at least in recent years, participation in Europe has damaged the domestic credentials of a club and often led to a sub-par finish. Freiburg and Frankfurt fell victim to it last year, as some teams struggled to . However, Gladbach are emphatically rubbishing that and are doing well on both fronts, so much so that Guardoila labelled them as 'A Champions League team.'

Whether Lucien Favre's side can hold onto their current placing remains to be seen, but it's the highest of praise from one of football's most respected managers. The Foals haven't been scoring goals with vigour, but have kept things water-tight in defence. A 4-1 win over Schalke and a couple of 5 goal+ victories in Europe have shown they can turn it on when they need to. A big part of that has been Max Kruse's return to scoring form in the Bundesliga; Branimir Hrgota has also been hitting the net with regularity in the Europa League, with the Swede scoring once and assisting twice on Thursday's 5-0 win over Apollon.

A massive part of the aforementioned defensive effort is Christoph Kramer, and Favre was only to happy to report his side is at full strength for Bayern's visit: "We have no injuries, everyone is available. Christoph Kramer, who was ill, is now fit." However, as comes with the weekly European commitments, he was quick to add there would be alterations to the starting team, "It's difficult to know how many changes there will be only 12 hours after the game. There will be changes, but I don't know how many yet."

When attentions turned to the task at hand, the Swiss coach explained the approach that they would take, "We mustn't be afraid of Bayern. They play quality football, but we'll prepare and see how it goes. If you don't defend well against Bayern, then it can be dangerous very quickly. Robben, Götze or whoever, are all there to attack." The versatility and strength in depth of the home defence will be keep, especially with Tony Jantschke equally adept at right-back. That could stand him in good sted for dealing with the winding and weaving runs, centrally, that will undoubtedly come his way.

In the Bayern Munich camp, things are even rosier than the red kits. After demolishing, to put it politely, Roma by seven goals to one; it's been as near perfect start to a season as one could hope for. Mario Götze is showing just why the Bavarians shelled out €37m for him, by topping the Bundesliga scoring charts with six goals. A win for Bayern would see them go six points clear of Hoffenheim in second place, but Guardiola refused to be drawn into title talk: "It's difficult for me to talk about the title in October. It's tough for me. It's disrespectful to other teams." "Just look at the results in Europe this week. There are a lot of good teams in this league."

The Spaniard was also quizzed on the extra days rest that Bayern have over their opponents on Sunday, though he suggested it invigorates other teams, "Of course it's better to have more rest, but when you play against Bayern, that tiredness disappears." Unfortunately for the Bavarians, they have multiple players out for the clash: Bastian Schweinsteiger, Holger Badstuber, Tom Starke, Thiago Alcántara, Javi Martínez and José Reina will all play no part in the game. Having only conceded two goals so far, Bayern boast the best defence in Europe and that's with two fantastic defenders in Badstuber and Martinez.

As the press conference drew to a close, Guardiola began to chat about Gladbach, Favre and how impressive they are: "He's [Favre] a super coach. He's the type who can coach anywhere. His team is personal to him." He said, "Gladbach are really well organised, and have a lot of strength on the flanks, as well as Raffael and Kruse in attack. They are a Champions League team."

To finish, Pep joked around with the reporters, when the Real Madrid-Barcelona match was brought up in conversation: "Maybe we'll watch it (El Clasico), because it's one of the biggest games in Europe. After Gladbach vs. Bayern of course."

Predicted XI's

Borussia Mönchengladbach: Sommer; Johnson, Jantschke, Stranzl, Wendt; Herrmann, Kramer, Xhaka, Traore; Raffael, Kruse. (4-4-2)

Bayern Munich: Neuer; Boateng, Dante, Alaba; Rafinha, Lahm, Alonso, Bernat; Robben, Götze; Lewandowski. (3-4-2-1)

Quotes via DW Sports.

Aalen 1-2 Union Berlin: Union see off Aalen with a second half comeback

Two second half goals completed a Union Berlin comeback to see off Aalen and give Union their second win in a row.

Brandy celebrates completing Union Berlin's comeback.

Aalen

1 2

Union Berlin

Aalen: Fejzić, Feick, Hainault, Barth, Ofosu-Ayeh (Quaner 84'), Mockenhaupt, Junglas (Kaufmann 45'), Daghfous, Hofmann, Drexler (Gjasula 84'), Ludwig.

Union Berlin: Amsif, Punčec, Leistner, Köhler, Parensen (Kobylański 54'), Trimmel, Quiring, Thiel, Zeynullahu (Kreilach 66'), Brandy (Kopplin 86'), Polter.

SCORE: 1-0, min. 39, Hainault. 1-1, min. 62, Leistner. 1-2, min. 70, Brandy.

REFEREE: Sven Jablonski Booking: Brandy 28'.

This was a battle between two sides on ten points and it was an important match as both could be struggling come the end of season, however both have improved lately. Aalen came into the game in 13th place, while Union Berlin went into the game in 15th.
It didn't take long for us to see the first chance of the game, in the second minute Benjamin Köhler's deflected cross looped up and Sören Brandy's header was comfortably dealt with by Jasmin Fejzić. The opening stages of the game was evenly fought and there wasn't many chances for either side.
After the fifteen minute mark Union Berlin found their groove and started to dominated possession, despite having chances they weren't able to cause Fejzić many problems.
Despite their possession Union Berlin found themselves behind before the break. A corner was flicked on by Sascha Mockenhaupt and it dropped nicely for André Hainault to volley into the roof of the net.
Aalen started the second half brightly and after a freekick, Oliver Barth found Mockenhaupt in plenty of space, he then managed to produce a lovely low cross, but sadly none of his team mates were able to make contact on the ball across goal.
Ten minutes into the half Aalen should've doubled their lead, the ball was played through to Andreas Ludwig and he really should've done better, under no real pressure he could only fire well over the bar.
Just past the hour mark Union Berlin levelled things, a corner came in from Köhler and Toni Leistner was able to get the better of his marker and head past Fejzić.
Union Berlin almost took the lead a few minutes later, a lovely move ended with Brandy laying the ball off to Damir Kreilach and his fantastic effort from range saw Fejzić match it with a fantastic save. Union did take the lead shortly after, Aalen failed to clear on three occasions and the rightfully punished, Maxi Thiel fired in a great cross and it was excellently finished by Brandy.
Aalen pushed for an equaliser and a lovely move saw a cross headed down for Ludwig, unfortunately for the home side his strike was well blocked. The home side could only produce a couple of half chances towards the end of the game as Union saw out the rest of the game.
This was a much welcomed win for Union Berlin as they make it two wins in a row, Aalen couldn't build on last week's draw as they suffered their fifth loss of the season. For the mean time Aalen drop down to 15th place and Union Berlin jump up into 11th.