Leverkusen out to keep Bayern off Bundesliga top spot

Bayer Leverkusen head to Bayern Munich on Saturday planning to keep the Bavarians from the top of the Bundesliga table, but resigned to losing South Korea striker Son Heung-Min.

With the transfer window set to close on Monday, Son is talking to Tottenham Hotspur and is the latest Bundesliga star poised to join the Premier League.

The 23-year-old, under contract with Leverkusen until 2018, is reportedly set to sign a deal worth an estimated 30 million euros ($34 million, £22 million), if he passes a medical.

Bayer have given their permission for the transfer to go ahead, according to German media reports.

Son was left out of Leverkusen's 3-0 win over Lazio on Wednesday in a Champions League play-off, which saw the Germans qualify for the group stages with a 3-1 win on aggregate.

And he could be a Spurs player come Saturday evening's kick-off at Bayern's Allianz Arena.

- Respect from Vidal -
Leverkusen, currently third in the table with Munich second, enjoyed a 2-0 win at home over Bayern in May, the last time the two teams met.

Bayern's ex-Leverkusen midfielder Arturo Vidal expects no quarter asked, nor given.

Vidal made 117 league appearances, scoring 15 goals, for Leverkusen from 2007-11 before joining Juventus, then Bayern in July for 37 million euros.

"I'll always carry Leverkusen in my heart, it's a special game for me and the first time I'll play against a former club," he said.

"I am very grateful to Leverkusen, but now I play for Bayern and I want to get everything I can out of this game."

Along with Borussia Dortmund, who host Hertha Berlin on Saturday and top the table on goal difference, Bayern and Leverkusen are the only teams in Germany's top flight with a 100 percent record after two games.

"Leverkusen play very aggressively," said Vidal.

"They use their pressing game from the first minute and we'll have to be careful."

- De Bruyne set for City -
Wolfsburg, who host Schalke on Friday, are set to lose Germany's player-of-the-year Kevin de Bruyne with Manchester City reported to be set to offer 74 million euros for the Belgium international.

The attacking midfielder, who was voted Germany's player of the season for the 2014/15 campaign, has told Wolfsburg he wants to leave and has been left out of the match squad against Schalke, according to reports.

The speculation surrounding both Son and De Bruyne follows the latest trend of talent quitting the Bundesliga for England.

Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger swapped the red shirt of Bayern Munich for Manchester United in July.

Brazil striker Roberto Firmino has joined Liverpool from Hoffenheim, ex-Mainz striker Shinji Okazaki is now at Leicester and Spanish forward Joselu swapped Hanover 96 for Stoke City.

On Sunday, bottom side Borussia Moenchengladbach will be looking to reverse alarming recent results after losing both of their opening games to Dortmund and Mainz.

"We've got a few players who aren't yet 100 percent fit and we're still making too many individual mistakes, which we must correct," admitted Gladbach coach Lucien Favre.

Cologne are looking to consolidate their opening haul of four points from their first two games when they host Hamburg on Saturday, but will be without Japan forward Yuya Osako, who has a knee injury.

Fixtures (All games 1330 GMT unless stated)

Friday:

VfL Wolfsburg v Schalke 04 (1830)

Saturday:

VfB Stuttgart v Eintracht Frankfurt, Augsburg v Ingolstadt, Cologne v Hamburg, Maninz 05 v Hanover 96,  Darmstadt v Hoffenheim, Bayern Munich v Bayer Leverkusen (1830)

Sunday:

Borussia Dortmund v Hertha Berlin, Werder Bremen v Bor. Moenchengladbach (1530)
Source: AFP