The Bundesliga restarts after the winter break on Friday with something very unfamiliar yet extremely tantalising on the horizon: a proper title race.

Borussia Dortmund lead the German league at the halfway point by six points from Bayern Munich, with Borussia Mönchengladbach a further three behind. This is unusual, to say the least. Bayern have been the Herbsmeister (autumn champions) for the past seven years and have won every league title since 2012-13.

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This time, though, they are the hunters and it is a role the Bayern players are enjoying, according to the manager, Niko Kovac. “I have noticed that the players are keen to start the chase and to increase the pressure [on Dortmund],” he said this week as Bayern were back in Germany after their winter training camp in Doha. “In the end there will be additional pressure and then it will be decided who has got the best nerves.”

And with those, almost passive aggressive, comments the tone of the next five months have been set. Bayern will try to apply the pressure on Dortmund’s inexperienced players – Jadon Sancho, Achraf Hakimi, Jacob Bruun Larsen and Dan-Axel Zagadou are all 20 or younger – throughout and fully believe they will overtake the young team from the north. For Bayern it is only a question of time.

They enter the second half of the campaign high on confidence after eight games undefeated in the league following their loss at Dortmund on 10 November. The sporting director, Hasan Salihamidzic, said: “I wouldn’t write off Bayern because of a few things: firstly I see how focused the team has been working and secondly they know exactly what they have to do.”

The goalkeeper Manuel Neuer added: “We have to do our homework and then see how Dortmund get on as time passes by. We are all hungry for more success and want to be German champions.”

Bayern are one of three German teams facing English clubs in the Champions League in February – they take on Liverpool while Dortmund face Tottenham and Schalke meet Manchester City – but Kovac insists that he has thought about Jürgen Klopp’s team only three times in the past month: during the draw and during Liverpool’s games against Arsenal and Manchester City, which he watched.

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All the focus is on the Bundesliga at the moment and Bayern have a difficult start, facing Hoffenheim away on Friday night. Kovac has said his team “must win” to keep the pressure on Dortmund but in the other corner is a coach who loves getting one over Bayern: the 31-year-old Julian Nagelsmann.

It has been an odd season for Hoffenheim and their manager, who has already agreed to join RB Leipzig next season. It has not been terrible, but simply not as good as the previous ones. “I don’t want to leave any residual waste here at Hoffenheim when I leave,” Nagelsmann said in the build-up to the game against Bayern. “I am very motivated at the moment. I have a lot to thank this club for. For me, it is all about the perfect farewell. It is also important for my own ego that this positive picture of myself stays intact.”

Nagelsmann’s Hoffenheim have won their past two home league games against Bayern and a third straight win would give Dortmund a huge boost before their game at RB Leipzig on Saturday night. Die Roten Bullen are in fourth place but are unbeaten at home this season with seven wins and two draws.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jerome Boateng (centre) warms up for the second half of the season. Photograph: A Hassenstein/Getty Images for FC Bayern

In December Dortmund agreed to sell Christian Pulisic to Chelsea for £58m but he will remain at the club until the summer and his move will not affect his place in the team while the new arrival from Boca Juniors, Leonardo Balerdi, is away with the Argentinian Under-20 team. The manager, Lucien Favre, has pretty much a full squad to choose from – only Manuel Akanji and Zagadou are injured – as he tries to guide Dortmund to their ninth Bundesliga title.

Favre has admitted that the “calm” Akanji is a huge loss – he could miss the rest of the season – but has insisted that Dortmund can be even better in the second half of the season. “We have been successful so far this season and that brings a calm environment. The way to continue that is to be very focused in our preparation: no one is allowed to rest. All my players have the potential to improve: technically, tactically, physically and mentally.

“Bayern will get stronger, there is no doubt about that. I am counting on them but it is not only Munich. Gladbach are very dangerous and so are Leipzig. There are a lot of ambitious teams and it can go up or down very quickly.”

That much is true and if the difference between Dortmund and Bayern is three points on Monday morning then Favre and his team will have to dig deep to keep Bayern at bay. On the other hand BVB could have a nine-point advantage over their rivals after the weekend. Let the battle commence.