Bayern Munich enter December seven points clear in the Bundesliga and seemingly certain of another German title despite another six months left in the season.
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It may seem simplistic to suggest Bayern already have their 25th German league title in the bag with November barely over.
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But Pep Guardiola’s Bavarian giants are on course to beat last season’s record of winning the title with seven games to spare and it will take an exceptional performance by one of their rivals to bridge the gap.
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At the same stage last year, Bayern had a four-point lead, compared to the seven they currently hold.
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They have already qualified for the Champions League last 16 as group winners despite Tuesday’s 3-2 defeat at Manchester City, their first loss of the season.
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Second-placed Wolfsburg stayed at the front of the pack chasing Bayern with Sunday’s 1-0 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach and a showdown beckons with Wolves being Munich’s first league opponents of 2015.
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Lucien Favre’s Gladbach had briefly threatened to be title contenders when they held Bayern to a goalless draw last month, but Borussia’s defeat on Sunday leaves them lagging 13 points behind the leaders in fifth.
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Injuries barely impact on Guardiola’s massive star-studded squad who edged a 1-0 win over Hertha Berlin on Saturday with nearly 80 per cent possession.
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Captain Philipp Lahm is out until 2015 with a fractured ankle, as is left-back David Alaba who has a knee injury, while neither defensive midfielders Javi Martinez nor Bastian Schweinsteiger had started a single match this season.
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Long-term injury victims midfielder Thiago Alcantara and defender Holger Badstuber will only intensify the battle for places in Guardiola’s starting line-up when they return in 2015.
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Nevertheless, Bayern’s Allianz Arena remains a hard place for opponents to claim points.
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“Bayern will lose at home sooner or later, but when you lose there four, five or six-nil, that’s normal,” mused Hoffenheim coach Markus Gisdol recently before his side were duly dispatched 4-0 in Munich.
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Having finished runners-up for the last two seasons, Borussia Dortmund are bottom of the table after the worst start to a league season in the club’s history after eight defeats in 12 games following Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt.
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