Felix Magath has a knack of leading clubs to the top of the Bundesliga and this weekend he gets the chance to lead Schalke there.

The former Bayern Munich manager could not have imagined making a better start to life in charge of the Royal Blues, but then those who still question his ability after leading Wolfsburg to a shock Bundesliga triumph last season are starting to come around.

After winning back-to-back league and cup doubles with Bayern, Magath needed just two years to turn the Wolves into a title-winning unit.

Although he has said it will take four years for him to do the same with Schalke, the early signs are that he has once again been too conservative with his evaluation.

However, he expects Hoffenheim to provide his side's first serious test of the season tomorrow night.

"Hoffenheim is in my eyes a candidate for a top five finish," said Magath. "We won't read anything into their start to the season. They have had tougher opponents than us."

Defending champions Wolfsburg have also got off to a flyer under their new coach Armin Veh with Magath's fingerprints still evident on a side which has only undergone two changes in personnel this season.

They have to wait until Sunday before getting the chance to extend their perfect start to the season against Hamburg.

Several clubs may have overtaken them at the top of the table by then, including Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Monchengladbach, who many expected to see at the bottom of the table rather than in the top five.

Frankfurt travel to bottom-placed Cologne on Saturday while Gladbach head to Werder Bremen, who have been boosted by the signing of Claudio Pizarro this week and will be keen to win their first game of the season on Sunday.

Bayern Munich's search for their first win of the season takes them to Mainz, who are also winless on their return to the top flight.

Fellow newcomers Freiburg and Nurnberg have also yet to taste victory back in the top flight and they are both in action on Saturday with Leverkusen visiting the former and manager-less Hannover arriving at the latter.

Elsewhere, Dortmund will want to make amends for their 4-1 defeat to Hamburg last weekend when they entertain Stuttgart on Saturday while Bochum and Hertha Berlin meet at the Ruhrstadion on Sunday.