LAST season Bayern Munich won the German Bundesliga at a canter, finishing 20 points ahead of their closest rival Borussia Dortmund. Any neutral would want a more competitive, tighter league but the champions have only got stronger during the off-season. With that said, we will preview the teams expected to pose the biggest threat on Bayern’s dominance as well as the league’s cellar dwellers.

Top 4 teams

Bayern Munich: The Bavarians squad dominated the league last season as well as the German national team and the only notable additions have been former Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski and Pepe Reina. Safe to say the squad has somewhat improved, which is horrible news for Bayern’s competition. Lewandowski has been the league’s leading scorer for three seasons; if he can repeat then Bayern should win easily.

Borussia Dortmund: After spending the summer fighting Europe’s top clubs off their most prized assets, Borussia Dortmund are ready to mount a more serious challenge on Bayern’s dominance. The team was ravaged by injuries last season which contributed to them finishing 20 points behind; players like Matthias Ginter will add depth at the back, while Ciro Immobile should provide the goals and another second-place finish.

Schalke: Keeping hold of highly rated stars such as Julian Draxler and Benedikt Howedes will only help Schalke coach Jens Keller to continue building a formidable Bundesliga team this season. The club’s aim is to make Schalke consistent entrants into the Champions League for several seasons to come but depth in certain positions is needed before leapfrogging Dortmund into second.

Bayer Leverkusen: Second at the end of 2013 with 37 points, Bayer Leverkusen ultimately ended the season in fourth place. A streak of 12 defeats from 17 games was certainly what sealed Sami Hyypia’s fate as manager but is replaced by another inexperienced coach — Roger Schmidt. Neither Korean sensation Heung Min-Son nor a raft of new signings will be able to inspire Bayer to higher than fourth.

Relegation strugglers

SC Freiburg: Losing top players like Matthias Ginter and Oliver Baumann, who are both integral at the back, will hit die Breisgauer quite hard. Despite not being in Europe this season, Freiburg will still struggle to keep their Bundesliga place.

SC Paderborn: This is Paderborn’s first season in the German top flight and it is anticipated that relegation will greet them by March. Losing top midfield talent Alban Meha for at least the first month is a blow and could lead to a detrimentally slow Bundesliga start.

Eintracht Frankfurt: With the transfers of Nelson Valdez and Haris Seferovic bolstering the third least productive strike force in the league, there is doubt as to whether Frankfurt can avoid relegation. However, Chelsea’s on-loan Lucas Piazon does inspire some confidence.