Borussia Dortmund vs Bayern Munich - Dortmund to increase heat on Bayern Munich

Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel says the "ball is now in our court" as they look to ramp up the pressure on Bayern Munich with victory over the league leaders at the Westfalenstadion.

Bayern's surprise home defeat to Mainz in midweek means that second-placed Dortmund will close to within two points of Pep Guardiola's side if they beat the reigning champions in the 'Klassiker' on Saturday.

It is a great chance for Dortmund, who have picked up 31 out of 33 points at home this season, to take a huge step forward in the title race and Tuchel is hoping they can take full advantage.

"The ball is now in our court," said the Dortmund coach. "We're now looking forward to this game even more.

"We're in the position we wanted to be in and which gives us the chance to close in on them.

"We'll do all we can to take the next step and reduce the gap even further."

On the flip side, if Bayern manage to bounce back from only their second loss of the season with a victory in Dortmund, then they would restore their eight-point cushion at the summit and be overwhelming favourites to retain their title.

That is what Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski is hoping for as he returns to face his former club.

"We knew even before the Mainz game that the Dortmund match would be important no matter how many points we led them by," he told sport1.de.

"Now it is just five. It would make things easier for us if we beat them and have an eight-point cushion again."

The Bundesliga is not the only title being contested between these two sides, with Lewandowski and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang both gunning for the individual prize on offer for the league's top goalscorers.

The Pole has 23 goals to his name while the Gabonese forward is just one goal behind him in the race for the coveted Torjagerkanone, which Lewandowski won in 2012 as a Dortmund player.

"[Aubameyang] is a great player and our defenders are going to have to pay close attention to him," Lewandowski said.

"Dortmund's game is centred around him, but they are not only about Aubameyang - they also have Marco Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan who are very good players.

"Their whole team are playing very well at the moment. Pierre is a great guy, but I hope I'm happier than him after Saturday's game."

Dealing with Aubameyang, Reus and Mkhitaryan will be the duty of Bayern's makeshift defence, with Medhi Benatia likely to be partnered once again by David Alaba in the continued absence of Jerome Boateng, Holger Badstuber and Javi Martinez, even though the latter is back in training.

Tuchel has an almost fully-fit squad to choose from and, after affording himself the luxury of giving half of his first-team regulars a rest in the midweek win over Darmstadt, he can be expected to name his strongest team for the mouth-watering clash between clubs who have shared 18 of the last 22 Bundesliga titles between them.