Yes, Xabi Alonso has brought Bayer Leverkusen back to the limelight after a successful season in Germany; and even though Bayer Leverkusen has started the league in good form; i think the coach needs to downplay the comparison the media is bringing between Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich because this will only pile up expectations and pressures on the young Bayer Leverkusen side.
I don't take away Xabi's important role. But Bayern Leverkusen is always in the top 10 at the end of every season. Even they can reach the top 3 at the end of the competition. The last game of the season against Bayern was indeed quite good. They were able to get 1 point and were number 1 temporarily. Xabi came 2022 and he managed to give a performance no less good than the previous coach. But the season is still going to be very long, so Xabi also has a lot to do to keep them at their best.
It is not yet certain who will win the Bundesliga this seasons because there are still many match to be playing, Thomas Tuchel and Xabi Alonso are trying to compete fiercely to win the title.
I don't see any other strongests candidate other than leverkusen and bayern.
Some clubs like leipzig and dortmund are still below those two clubs. The competitions are very strict right now and bayern has found one of the strongest competitor to win the bundesliga.
We will start to see leverkusen to have perfect run this season to win the bundesliga and break bayern's domination.