Few people expected the 10th-round match between Mainz and Borussia Dortmund to turn out to be a showdown involving the top two teams in the Bundesliga.
Even fewer people thought Hoffenheim vs. Hannover would be another highlight, pitting the third-place team against No. 4.
Yet, the Bundesliga season this year has gone largely against predictions, with powerhouses such as Bayern Munich and Schalke struggling in the bottom half of the standings and surprise teams taking control of the top.
Mainz defender Nikolce Noveski and Dortmund defender Neven Subotic, a pair of former teammates, say they would have been surprised if they had been told three months ago that their teams would be battling for the lead.
"I would have found it totally unrealistic," Noveski said. "I would have asked, 'What's the point of such daydreaming?"'
Anyone making such a prediction would have to have "a lot of imagination," Subotic said.
"Probably there was no one who would have tipped that both clubs would be having so much success at the same time," he said.
Mainz leads the standings with 24 points from eight wins in nine games. Dortmund, with seven wins, has 22 points. Hannover is third with 16 points and Hoffenheim has 15.
Both Mainz and Dortmund go into Sunday's match with shaken confidence after losing to lower-tier opposition in the German Cup on Thursday. Mainz lost 2-1 at Alemannia Aachen, the 10th-ranked second-division team, while Dortmund went out on penalties against Kickers Offenbach, the third division leader.
"We are very disappointed. We must put it behind us very quickly and give 100 percent against Dortmund," said Andre Schuerrle, the 19-year-old Mainz forward and one of the discoveries of the season.
Dortmund wasted plenty of chances in Offenbach in 120 minutes before strikers Robert Lewandowski and Lucas Barrios had their spot kicks saved.
"It's a very bitter experience we didn't need at all," Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp said. "It's hard to accept this defeat. It hurt the club, the fans, the team and makes us feel terrible."
Mainz and Dortmund are bound by several factors. Klopp ended his playing career and began his coaching career in Mainz; he took several staff and players, including Subotic, when he moved to Mainz in 2008.
Klopp has rejuvenated Dortmund, a club long on tradition that has six German championships and won the Champions League in 1997 but nearly went bankrupt a few years later. Dortmund now has the second youngest team in the Bundesliga after Hoffenheim.
Mainz, on the other had, has the second oldest squad in the league, although the focus has been on Schuerrle, 20-year-old Lewis Holtby and 22-year-old Adam Szalai.
The success so far of Hannover and Hoffenheim may be even more surprising.
While Hoffenheim has had its spell as Bundesliga leader in its maiden season before slipping into mediocrity, it now seems to have regained some of the passion that had made it a darling of many fans.
Hannover is approaching the first anniversary on Nov. 10 of the shocking suicide of goalkeeper and captain Robert Enke. The club has not been spectacular but Ivory Coast striker Didier Ya Konan has five goals so far in his second season and the team has stabilized under coach Mirko Slomka.
Hoffenheim and Hannover also play on Sunday.
Defending champion Bayern kicks off the 10th round on Friday at home against Freiburg, after beating Werder Bremen 2-1 in the German Cup. Freiburg has three points more than Bayern, which is 12 behind Mainz.
Striker Miroslav Klose has re-injured his left thigh and will be out for another three weeks, only adding to Bayern's injury misery. Without Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery to create chances, Bayern, astonishingly, has the worst offense of the league with eight goals.
On Saturday, it's: Werder Bremen vs. Nuremberg; Wolfsburg vs. Stuttgart; Cologne vs. Hamburger SV; Kaiserslautern vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach; St. Pauli vs. Eintracht Frankfurt; and Schalke vs. Bayer Leverkusen.
