German Bundesliga Preview

Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath has been given a vote of confidence ahead of their meeting with his former club Schalke this weekend.

The Wolves have made a dismal start to the season with three straight defeats leaving them in the wrong half of the table, but Wolfsburg chairman Francisco Garcia Sanz believes Magath will put things right eventually.

"We have faith in Magath," he said. "He has always managed it in the end.

"Even during his first spell with us, we did not instantly challenge at the top of the table."

Magath led Wolfsburg to the Bundesliga title in 2009 before moving to Schalke, whom he led to the runners-up spot a year later.

However, things did not go according to plan last season for the Royal Blues who, despite reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League, struggled in the league.

Magath left with just a few months of the season remaining and was installed as coach of Wolfsburg less than 24 hours later.

Sanz is standing by his decision to reappoint Magath, with whom the club celebrated their greatest success.

"We have started to reconstruct a successful team," explained Sanz. "Thanks to people like Christian Trasch, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Hasan Salihamidzic or Patrick Ochs, we will soon see a real team again."

Schalke fans have seen the formation of a successful team over the last few weeks with three wins in a row taking them into second place, behind Bayern Munich on goal difference.

Magath's era is well and truly a thing of the past in Gelsenkirchen.

"It does not play a role for me," said their new coach Ralf Rangnick to the Revier Sport newspaper.

"We are not playing against Felix Magath but against Wolfsburg."

The Royal Blues may have a three-point deficit to make up by the time they take to the field at the VW-Arena on Sunday.

League leaders Bayern host Freiburg on Saturday afternoon while Werder Bremen, who are below Schalke only on goals scored, host northern Germany rivals Hamburg on Saturday evening.

Fourth-paced Hannover travel to Stuttgart with fifth-placed Borussia Monchengladbach entertaining Kaiserslautern.

The defending champions Borussia Dortmund can also move ahead of Schalke with a win over Hertha Berlin while Bayer Leverkusen have the chance to move to the top of the table tomorrow night when they travel to Augsburg.

Finally, Mainz welcome Hoffenheim to the Mainz Arena and Nurnberg travel to Cologne.