Bayern Munich are 10 points off the Bundesliga lead and could fall further off the pace if they lose to in-form Borussia Dortmund tomorrow, a prospect that captain Mark van Bommel says is unthinkable.

Dortmund have won their last five matches to sit second in the standings with 15 points after six rounds, three behind Mainz. Bayern are ninth with eight points having played most of the season so far without wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery.

“Sunday is very important. We have no more excuses. We have to win,” Van Bommel said.

Bayern will be coming off yet another victory secured late on, after beating FC Basel 2-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday through Bastian Schweinsteiger’s second goal of the night in the 89th minute.

Bayern’s form has been erratic this season but the team has hit a lot of late goals.

Schweinsteiger scored in the 90th in a 2-1 win over Wolfsburg. Daniel van Buyten struck at the same stage in a 2-1 victory at Hoffenheim, while Thomas Mueller and Miroslav Klose found the net in the final 11 minutes in a 2-0 win over AS Roma in the Champions League.

“You can see that after falling behind 1-0 that we don’t have a lot of confidence,” coach Louis van Gaal said of the Basel game. “It was important that we won, but we are not yet on the right path. Now we need to keep going in Dortmund.”

Dortmund have scored 16 goals in 60 shots on target, both Bundesliga highs, and the team has nine wins in 10 matches in all competitions this season.

Lucas Barrios scored 19 goals last season, but Dortmund’s attack this season is more versatile with Nuri Sahin, Shinji Kawaga, Mario Goetze, Kevin Grosskreutz and Robert Lewandowski all having found the net.

“When you win as often as we do, you feel fresher, fitter and more confident,” Dortmund midfielder Sven Bender said. “There are so many good, down-to-earth guys playing with us. Nobody needs to worry about somebody getting too bigheaded. Everyone has a clear head and is only focused on the football.”

Surprise leaders Mainz welcome Hoffenheim with a chance of heading into the two-week break with a perfect 21 points from seven victories.

“We are the small guys who aggravate the big guys,” Mainz manager Christian Heidel said.

Mainz coach Thomas Tuchel said there are some parallels with Mainz’s form and Hoffenheim’ s magical run in leading at the season break in the 2008-09 season.

Tuchel was also proud his team not only beat Bayern in Munich but then declined to celebrate at Oktoberfest, deciding instead to go out with the players who had stayed back home.

Yesterday

Hannover 96-St Pauli 0-1

Today

Borussia M'gladbach-Wolfsburg

Hamburg-FC Kaiserslautern

Mainz-TSG Hoffenheim

Nurnberg-Schalke 04

SC Freiburg-Cologne

Tomorrow

Bayer Leverkusen-Werder

Bor. Dortmund-Bayern Munich

VfB Stuttgart-Eintracht Frankfurt