Match Preview: Borussia Dortmund vs VfL Wolfsburg

The holidays have ended, the old year has been bid goodbye, and the Bundesliga has returned. After a short winter break, Borussia Dortmund will host VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday, January 3 at 9:30am ET.

Historically, Dortmund has had the better of the Wolves, going 27-10-9 in all Bundesliga matchups. Wolfsburg hasn’t won against Dortmund since May 2015, with only one draw in that time frame. Marco Reus tends to perform well in this matchup, being the all time goal leader between the two teams with 8 goals.

As for Borussia Dortmund, the club has been in a sort of tailspin. In their six Bundesliga matches since the international break, they’ve gone 2-1-3; not exactly ideal for a team in search of a league championship. If Dortmund loses this game, it will be their 4th consecutive home loss; the first instance since the 1999/2000 season and the second in team history.

The break has given Terzic time, albeit not very much, to practice with the team and implement some of his philosophies. It will be interesting to see if anything sticks and if a difference is visible.

Wolfsburg, on the other hand, are doing quite well for themselves. They sit in 4th place, one above Dortmund, and only 6 points out of first. Since the international break, the team has gone 4-1-1, with the one loss coming to Bayern Munich. The team has had some problems with players missing due to COVID-19, but those seem to be slowly resolving.

How might they line-up?

There isn’t much history on Terzic, but he has fielded a 4-3-3 in his two wins, so let’s go with that formation. Erling Håland is reportedly back from injury, which would be a nice bonus. Conversely, Thorgan Hazard is still out with a torn hamstring and Youssoufa Moukoko has knee problems. Bellingham is slightly hurting, but should be in the line-up. Emre Can and Axel Witsel are the only players sitting on 4 yellows. The predicted line-up is as follows:

The bench should be filled by Hitz, Morey, Passlack, Piszczek, Schulz, Zagadou, Brandt, Can, Dahoud, Reiner, and Witsel.

Wolfsburg is receiving reinforcements in Maximilian Arnold and Xaver Schlager, who are back from COVID-19 and quarantine, respectively. Pavao Pervan and Jerome Roussillon remain out due to COVID-19, as will Maximilian Philipp who has a muscle injury. They look to line-up in a 4-2-3-1 as follows:

Prediction

Dortmund has won their last six against Wolfsburg with a clean sheet. I predict the script will be flipped with Wolfsburg winning 2:0, with probably Weghorst burning Dortmund on a corner.

Stats from kicker.de