Match Preview: BVB Face Augsburg Without Erling Haaland

Looking for a rebound following their disappointing defeat against Borussia Monchengladbach a week ago, Borussia Dortmund will have a decent chance at redemption tomorrow when they face FC Augsburg, a team that has struggled mightily to start the Bundesliga. With a win, BVB can reverse their fortunes heading into the next international break, and give themselves a strong start on what should be a very winnable set of matches over the coming month.

Helmed by former Schalke manager Markus Weinzierl, Augsburg have been one of the worst clubs in the Bundesliga in the early months of the season. They’ve suffered blowouts at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen, SC Freiburg, and most recently, Hoffenheim. Their only points came from a pair of 0-0 draws and a rather fortuitous 1-0 victory against Borussia Mönchengladbach. They’ve only scored two goals, and have the worst expected goals differential in the Bundesliga. Oh god, I’m jinxing us so hard right now, aren’t I? I’m gonna look real dumb when we drop two points to them tomorrow. There are some games that are winnable, but for which a draw isn’t out of the possibility. Then there are games like this, in which anything less than a win would be a huge disappointment.

Unfortunately, Borussia Dortmund will be without star striker Erling Haaland. Sometimes it can be difficult to find clarification regarding a player’s injury and whether they will be able to play. Thankfully, Haaland today gave us the courtesy of filling in as his own beat reporter:

Thank you, Erling. That was very nice.

Even without Haaland, BVB should still be able to beat Augsburg with ease. Now that Donyell Malen got the monkey off his back with a goal against Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday, hopefully he can put together a string of decent performances in the Bundesliga and get his career with Dortmund rolling.

Aside from Erling Haaland, manager Marco Rose will still have several other players missing. Mahmoud Dahoud will have to serve his suspension for his ridiculous red card last week, so he will be absent from the squad. Gio Reyna is still injured, and while Dan-Axel Zagadou is approaching a return, he hasn’t reached it quite yet.

After the way that Youssoufa Moukoko and Donyell Malen performed as a striker pairing last week, Marco Rose may want to go with a veteran presence up top with Thorgan Hazard instead of Moukoko. Other than that, there really aren’t many other options in the squad that would make sense. The only reason Rose would change the lineup from this would be if he wants to give a bench player like Reinier a spot in the squad.

While a player like Reinier may come off the bench if BVB take a lead, I suspect that Rose will want to field a strong squad to guarantee a win.

Prediction

It’s hard to overstate how poor Augsburg have played so far, so I’m going to predict a 3-0 victory for BVB.