Hannover welcome Dieter Hecking's Wolfsburg side to the HDI-Arena, eager to bounce back from back-to-back defeats which has seen them ship seven goals in two games, including a frantic 4-3 defeat last Friday to Hoffenheim.
It doesn't get much harder than Wolfsburg though, a side who are only behind Bayern in the table and have won five of their last six Bundesliga clashes, scoring 14 goals in those six games.
With rivals Leverkusen facing the seemingly impossible task of taking any points from the Allianz Arena, the visitors will see this as a perfect chance to move six points clear in the race for Champions League spots, and keep pressure on Pep Guardiola's men.
They will welcome back Luiz Gustavo from suspension, and the highly rated Ricardo Rodriguez will be in contention after coming back from injury. As for the home side, Lars Stindl is a certain to start after impressing in the loss to Hoffenheim last week, while Bittencourt could replace Briand on the right.
Captain Stindl will be central to the rest of Hannover's season, especially as they have their own European ambitions, and despite a rocky patch, they still stand just one point outside the Europa League spots, and it is clear their home form will be the key to whether they can stay in contention, with four of their six wins coming at the HDI Arena this season.
However, club president Martin Kind played down expectations and insisted his side are not aiming for Europe, speaking to Bild, after two successive defeats he said: "Europe was never our aim, [this] is why it is no disappointment. Our goal is to reach a place between sixth and ninth."
There has been no playing down of expectations at the Wolves though, with Hecking believing his side has what it takes to go one better than the Europa League this year, and join Europe's elite next year.
"If we played in the Champions League next year, that would be outstanding," said Hecking, though he admitted his side was not ready for a title challenge, adding, "Everyone can see that we're not yet 'the Bayern hunters', it's a media tag,"
Saturday will be a huge indication as to whether both sides can exceed expectations this season, and Tayfun Korkut will hope to bring the belief from previous years, as this is a fixture Die Roten have won in four successive years.