MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) -German champions Bayern Munich are ready to bounce back on Saturday against St Pauli from their first defeat of the season earlier this week, and protect their six-point advantage at the top of the Bundesliga.
The Bavarians' 18-match unbeaten streak across all competitions came to an end on Wednesday when they slumped to a 3-1 loss against Arsenal in London in the Champions League.
After starting the season by winning 16 consecutive matches, they have now won only one of their last three games.
Coach Vincent Kompany, however, is confident his players will waste no time in restoring order.
"Now we will get to show how we react to this," Kompany said. "How this one will make us improve. The answers will come.
"Now we need to solve this on Saturday. I have the feeling that the lads are already hungry for their next game."
Few would bet against the Bavarians getting back to their winning path on Saturday, with Kompany's team having equalled a league record with their 43rd consecutive matchday at the top of the Bundesliga table.
They have scored 41 league goals in 11 matches to St Pauli's nine, and are still undefeated in the Bundesliga.
Bayern top the table with 31 points, six ahead of RB Leipzig in second place, and given their lead they are guaranteed to set a new record with 44 matchdays at the top irrespective of the result against St Pauli.
The visitors from Hamburg are experiencing a prolongeddip in form and have lost their last eight league games going into Saturday's encounter. They have dropped down to 16th place, in the relegation playoff spot, with only two wins from 11 matches.
But if St Pauli have something going in their favour -- it is the complete lack of pressure and expectation given their own form and their opponents' strength and quality.
"Maybe we can mentally be a bit more relaxed there because no one is really rating us at the moment," St Pauli keeper Nikola Vasilj said.
For St Pauli defender Eric Smith, even the timing of the game is good.
"Even if we had won 10 times in a row (going into this match) no one would expect us to get the three points," Smith said.
"Maybe this match comes at just the right time for us to work on our defensive operation. Because I suspect we will need to defend quite a bit."
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
