Borussia Dortmund will be looking to prevent a run of three successive Bundesliga defeats at Signal Iduna Park when Stuttgart visit on Saturday.
BVB have taken a single point from their last two games, meaning that after 10 rounds of Bundesliga action, they sit four points adrift of league leaders Bayern Munich. Newly-promoted visitors Stuttgart have only lost one game since their opening day defeat against Freiburg, and are unbeaten away from home in the league.
When @BVB beat @PSG_inside in February, there was only one person Giovanni Reyna wanted there: his older brother, Jack.https://t.co/R1UgCpkO1C
— The Players’ Tribune (@PlayersTribune) December 10, 2020
When Is Kick Off? Saturday 12 December
What Time Is Kick Off? 14:30 (GMT)
Where Is it Played? Signal Iduna Park
TV Channel/Live Stream? BT Sport ESPN (UK)
Injury ravaged Borussia Dortmund are without a number of key performers going into the game.
Star marksman Erling Haaland will miss the rest of 2020 with a muscle injury, while Thomas Delaney, Marcel Schmelzer and Thomas Meunier will also likely miss Stuttgart’s visit with some minor problems. Dortmund suffered two additional blows in their midweek win at Zenit with Mats Hummels and Thorgan Hazard being replaced, but they are likely to be involved in some part against Stuttgart.
The visitors travel to Dortmund with Momo Cisse, Daniel Didavi, Clinton Mola, Erik Thommy and Maxime Awoudja all unavailable for selection.
Borussia Dortmund: Burki; Can, Hummels, Zagadou; Passlack, Witsel, Bellingham, Guerreiro; Sancho, Reus, Reyna
VfB Stuttgart: Kobel; Mavropanos, Anton, Kempf; Wamangituka, Mangala, Endo, Sosa; Klimowicz Coulibaly, Kalajdzic
Since putting five past Hertha Berlin on 21 November, Dortmund have struggled in the Bundesliga, compounded by Haaland’s absence. An embarrassing home defeat against Koln was followed up with a draw against Eintracht Frankfurt.
BVB had to come from behind in the latter to rescue a point, relying on a brilliant strike from Gio Reyna. The United States international has proved his importance in Dortmund’s team over recent weeks.
Here’s how each side has fared in their last five games:
Borussia Dortmund
Zenit St Petersburg 1-2 Borussia Dortmund (12/12)
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (5/12)
Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Lazio (2/12)
Borussia Dortmund 1-2 FC Koln (28/11)
Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Club Brugge (24/11)
VfB Stuttgart
Werder Bremen 1-2 VfB Stuttgart (6/12)
VfB Stuttgart 1-3 Bayern Munich (28/11)
Hoffenheim 3-3 VfB Stuttgart (21/11)
VfB Stuttgart 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt (7/11)
Schalke 1-1 VfB Stuttgart (30/10)
Borussia Dortmund have lacked a cutting edge in front of goal without Haaland and that is evident in their last two Bundesliga results, while their home form is also far from convincing.
Stuttgart on the other hand, having just returned to Germany’s top-flight, seem to be approaching all games with a ‘do or die’ attitude and it’s producing good results. Their unbeaten run away from home will prove to be another obstacle Dortmund will struggle to overcome.
Prediction: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Stuttgart
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