bundesliga.com skims over what six of the weekend's must-see games have to offer on Matchday 20...
Schalke will be looking to leapfrog Gladbach in the table in the Matchday 20 opener on Friday. The Royal Blues have yet to concede a goal since the start of the Rückrunde, beating Hannover 96 1-0 and holding FC Bayern München to a 1-1 draw, while the Foals have recorded successive 1-0 victories. There will be little to choose between the two sides at the Veltins Arena, but who will triumph?
The southern derby needs no introduction, even if hosts Stuttgart are fighting tooth and nail to avoid relegation to the second tier. Logically you would think Bayern are due a win after picking up just a point from their first two Rückrunde outings, but stranger things have happened.
Freiburg are in a similar position to southwest neighbours Stuttgart, albeit only marginally better off than eight-time German champions Dortmund. Jürgen Klopp's troubled side remain bottom of the table after stumbling at home to FC Augsburg and head to Baden-Württemberg having won just once on their travels all season.
Hamburg succeeded where BVB failed in midweek after coasting to victory at Paderborn. Talismanic captain Rafael van der Vaart was on target as the Bundesliga dinosaurs moved to within five points of northern rivals Hannover, who are looking for their first league win in three.
On current form, northern Germany's gold star has to go to Bremen. The Green-Whites are creeping towards the top half of the table thanks to the profiic Franco Di Santo, and could even find themselves within touching distance of the top six if they can make it a hat-trick of new year wins against fifth-placed Leverkusen on Sunday.
Augsburg also have a 100-per-cent record in 2015 to protect against Frankfurt. The Bavarians served up one of the highlights of the season by trumping BVB in their own backyard, with the Eagles coming close to a big-name scalp of their own in an eventual 1-1 draw with Bayern slayers VfL Wolfsburg last time out.