Fans title chants fire up Dortmund: Aubameyang

They face a big test of their mettle as title contenders on Saturday when they host Bayer Leverkusen

BERLIN: Borussia Dortmund fans have voiced their hopes of winning this season's German league title, which Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang says is music to the Bundesliga leaders' ears.

"Only Borussia Dortmund will be German champions!" sang their fans after Saturday's 4-2 win at Hanover 96 when Aubameyang converted two penalties to leave him with five league goals in four Bundesliga matches.

Aubameyang has scored nine goals in all competitions this season to help Borussia top the German league table ahead of arch-rivals Bayern Munich.

"It's a good motivation for us, when the fans sing that," Aubameyang told German daily Bild.

"They may have a few dreams on the quiet..."

Under new head coach Thomas Tuchel, Dortmund have enjoyed the best start to a season in the club's history with nine straight wins.

Having won the 2011 and 2012 German league titles, Dortmund played second fiddle to Bayern Munich in 2013 and 2014 before a disastrous start to last season ultimately saw them finish seventh.

Dortmund face a big test of their mettle as title contenders on Saturday when they host Bayer Leverkusen, but Borussia's director of sport Michel Zorc says Dortmund are "challenging for top spot" in Germany.

"Bayern are still top favourites, we will see our thing through," Zorc told German broadcaster Sport1.

And Dortmund's form has even provoked a response from Bayern, who are second in the table on goal difference and both teams have won all four of their league matches thus far.

"They want to attack us again, which is nice for the league and makes things a bit more unrelaxed for us," said Bayern forward Thomas Mueller, the Bundesliga's top scorer with six goals in four matches.

"They are very greedy and you can see they are on the up, so we have to brace ourselves accordingly."

After Saturday's Leverkusen match, Dortmund's next big test will be when they play Bayern away on October 4 as the Bavarian giants beat Borussia both home and away in the league last season.