Robben rested?

After waiting a mammoth 37 games to return to the dizzy heights of the top of the Bundesliga, you would expect record champions Bayern Munich to be in no mood to let their elevated status slip against unfancied SC Freiburg.

The visitors from Breisgau have made an ordinary start to the season - notching only a solitary win (3-0 v Wolfsburg) - but can boast the Bundesliga's current joint top scorer in their ranks. Papiss Demba Cissé has fired four league goals to head the charts alongside Bayern's Mario Gomez and Schalke's striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar.

The in-form Senegalese striker is sure to give a severe test to a Bayern back-line that hasn't conceded a Bundesliga goal for 298 minutes, the longest stretch in the whole league. The Bavarians have won five consecutive games in all competitions, firing in 12 goals without reply.

Unheralded Freiburg did well to hang on to their prize asset Cissé. Or perhaps it was rather more a case of various interested Premier League clubs (Fulham, Blackburn and Newcastle) failing to meet the rumoured 15 million Euro asking price.

Freiburg have never won in the Bavarian capital and have suffered 8 straight defeats. In fact, you have to look back over a decade for their last point in Munich, when they scraped a 0-0 draw in May 1997.

Top scorer Mario Gomez was not fit enough to take part in Germany's two recent internationals but is expected to shake off injury to take his spot in the starting line-up. 'Super Mario' will be full of confidence after his hat-trick in Kaiserslautern last time out.

Dutch winger Arjen Robben is likely to be rested with a view to more challenging fixtures on the horizon, including the tricky Champions League trip to Villarreal on Wednesday evening.

"Every player at Bayern is important, because we're a very ambitious club - but a fully-fit Arjen is capable of settling a game by himself," explained coach Jupp Heynckes.

"Naturally we need him, especially in the difficult Champions League fixtures.

"He's in much better physical shape now. We'll have to wait and see what happens with the pelvic inflammation which is causing problems."

Kick-off is at 15:30 at the Allianz Arena on Saturday.

Prediction: Bayern Munich 3 Freiburg 0