Eintracht Frankfurt enjoying Bundesliga return

Second-place Frankfurt has only lost once so far and is five points behind Bayern Munich, which has made a record start.

Also on Sunday, Bayern can make it nine wins from nine with victory at home over Bayer Leverkusen, while Hannover hosts Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Twelve points behind Bayern after losing to Schalke in the Ruhr derby last weekend, defending champion Borussia Dortmund needs to forget Wednesday's 2-1 Champions League win over Real Madrid when it visits Freiburg on Saturday.

"We have to be clear about how difficult it will be in Freiburg. We have to play to our own strengths," Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp said Thursday.

Both Sven Bender and Mario Goetze came off with calf muscle problems on Wednesday, and Klopp said Bender was definitely ruled out, while "it could be that there's enough time for Mario."

Schalke, in third, hosts Nuremberg on Saturday, while Werder Bremen visits Greuther Fuerth, Mainz is at home to Hoffenheim, and bottom side Wolfsburg visits Fortuna Duesseldorf. Hamburger SV gets the ninth round underway Friday at Augsburg.

Interim coach Lorenz-Guenther Koestner will be in charge of Wolfsburg after the club parted ways with Felix Magath on Thursday. Four straight defeats and seven games without a win have left the 2009 champion bottom.

It will be the 60-year-old Koestner's second stint at the helm after he took over from Veh, who was sacked as Wolfsburg coach in January 2010.

Veh is currently enjoying happier times. The 51-year-old has overseen a remarkable turnaround in Frankfurt's fortunes since being appointed coach after the club was relegated in 2011.

By pressuring opponents in possession and being quick to move the ball, Frankfurt scored more goals that any other side in the second division (76) last season, eventually finishing runner-up to Greuther Fuerth.

Frankfurt was busy in the offseason, snapping up the second division's leading scorer, Olivier Occean, from Fuerth, Japanese midfielder Takashi Inui from Bochum, midfielder Martin Lanig from relegated Cologne, and defenders Bastian Oczipka and Carlos Zambrano from Leverkusen and relegated St. Pauli, respectively.