Is a Record 5th Straight Bundesliga Title an Inevitability for Bayern Munich?

Four games into the Bundesliga season and Carlo Ancelotti's Bayern Munich are already the only team in the league with a 100 percent record.

Following their 3-0 victory over Hertha Berlin at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday, the Bavarians have opened up a three-point cushion on their nearest challengers Cologne—a team who last won the league in 1978.

"Englische Woche"—a term used in German football to describe a run of fixtures that includes midweek games, as in England; a bout of gastroenteritis that afflicted captain Philipp Lahm and others; an opponent on Wednesday who looked worthy of their place alongside Bayern at the top of the pile after dismissing Schalke 04 2-0 on Sunday: none of it mattered.

The Reds barely moved out of second gear against the capital club, yet they still coasted to victory with Franck Ribery, Thiago Alcantara and Arjen Robben finding the target in front of 75,000 mostly ecstatic fans.

Hertha could have gone top with victory, but the Old Lady had not won in Munich since 1977. They will now have to wait until next season to attempt to end that 39-year drought unless the sides are drawn together in the latter stages of the DFB-Pokal.

Hertha were without three of their most important players in United States stalwart John Anthony Brooks, Czech midfield engine Vladimir Darida and Ivorian striker Salomon Kalou, so their defeat should be taken with a pinch of salt.

However, it seems pertinent to question who might challenge the Bavarians if a Hertha side—even slightly depleted—can be so easily brushed aside.

Bayern rarely look over their shoulders at what their opponents are doing these days, but there is rightly excitement at what is happening at Signal Iduna Park this season.

Runners-up last term, Borussia Dortmund collected 78 points in the 2015-16 campaign—a haul that would have been sufficient to win them the Bundesliga title in all but four of the competition's 52 completed incarnations to date.

Last season's first Der Klassiker—the German term for the meeting between Bayern and Dortmund—saw the Reds prevail 5-1. However, between that thrashing and the return fixture, a 0-0 draw in Dortmund in March, BVB actually picked up more points than the champions, before tailing off in the run-in.

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Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel lost his centre-back and captain Mats Hummels to Bayern over the summer, as well as midfielder Ilkay Gundogan to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City and winger Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Jose Mourinho's Manchester United.

Fans began to lament a decimated squad—but then Dortmund went shopping. In came Mario Gotze, returning after three years away at Bayern, as well as fellow FIFA World Cup winner Andre Schurrle from VfL Wolfsburg. Meanwhile, Marc Bartra was signed from Barcelona to help fill the Hummels void.

Alongside those players, who boast 11 league titles between them, Euro 2016 winner Raphael Guerreiro arrived from FC Lorient, as well as sparkling teenagers Ousmane Dembele from Rennes and Emre Mor from FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark.

Defeat to RB Leipzig a little less than two weeks ago did little to inspire confidence in Tuchel's new team. However, they have rebounded in incredible style, with back-to-back 6-0 wins over Legia Warsaw in the UEFA Champions League and Darmstadt in the league before Tuesday's 5-1 dismissal of Wolfsburg.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang—who finished as runner-up to Robert Lewandowski in last season's race to be crowned top goalscorer—said after that game that: "Nothing can stop us, nothing," as quoted by ESPN.

He might find that he is wrong once Bayern roll into town in November, but there is little question that with the team now fully in Tuchel's image, Dortmund seem like the side most likely to push the champions in 2016-17.

That Leipzig beat Dortmund shows their top-flight credentials, though. Naby Keita's 89th-minute strike separated the sides earlier this month, and while many may not have heard of the diminutive midfielder before this season, Leipzig reportedly fended off competition from Arsenal to seal the Guinea international's signature.

That Leipzig have the funds to pull off such a coup is perhaps unsurprising given that they are backed by Austrian energy drink giant Red Bull.

Founded in 2009, RasenBallsport Leipzig—to give them their full name—have climbed up to the top flight from the fifth tier within their stated goal of eight years. They have not simply thrown money at the problem either.

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Sporting director Ralf Rangnick has a philosophy of recruiting players aged 24 or less—striker Davie Selke and right-back Lukas Klostermann were part of the Germany under-23 squad that won the Olympic silver medal in Rio de Janeiro this summer.

The East German team are youthful and well-drilled, and they have one final potential trump card in that other Bundesliga sides are not that familiar with what they are up against.

Hoffenheim led the Bundesliga until two weeks after the winter break in the season following their promotion—backed by software billionaire Dietmar Hopp—in 2008, and Bayern will have to do their homework before Leipzig make their first trip to Allianz Arena in December.

Elsewhere, FC Cologne are proving the best of the rest so far. Peter Stoger's men are, alongside Bayern and Leipzig, the only team yet to have tasted defeat this season.

Persuading Germany's Euro 2016 hero Jonas Hector to stay amid reported interest from Barcelona was a huge boon for the club, who have also enjoyed the free-scoring form of French striker Anthony Modeste—who is just single strike behind Lewandowski's five at the top of the scoring charts.

Ancelotti's European record is perhaps more impressive than his domestic one. The Italian tactician is the only manager to have won the Champions League three times, and he was unable to add a Spanish title to his victories in Italy, England and France in his time at Real Madrid.

However, Ancelotti has made a record start at Bayern, with the defeat of Hertha meaning he has won his first seven games in charge with an aggregate score of 26-1.

Dortmund, Leipzig and Cologne are among the form teams at this early stage of the season, but Bayern are top of the pile with the best goal difference despite Dortmund's recent goal glut. While the aforementioned sides may pose interesting questions, it would not be safe to back against the Bavarians lifting a record 27th Bundesliga title by the end of the campaign.