Match Preview: Dortmund Welcome Arminia Bielefeld to the Westfalenstadion

Riding the wave of their excellent performances last week, Borussia Dortmund will look to secure their good vein of form against Arminia Bielefeld this weekend. The game serves as a precursor to some massive matches in the coming weeks, namely Borussia Mönchengladbach on Tuesday and Bayern Munich the following Saturday. But back to the game at hand.

Borussia Dortmund have scored six goals in each of their last two home games against Arminia Bielefeld, will be looking to add to that tally on Saturday. The last time the two teams met, Mats Hummels ran rampant with two goals to secure the victory. While it is hard to expect another such performance from the German, hopefully he will be back to his best this weekend after a few shaky performances. The away side fell to a surging Wolfsburg 3-0 on the last matchday, but their threat should not be overlooked; they managed to score three against Bayern Munich to begin a stretch of dropped points for the Bavarians. Nonetheless, Dortmund will still be flying high from their win against FC Sc*lke 04, and should be raring to go at the chance to hopefully move closer to the Champions League places.

Just for fun, here IT is AGAIN.

Predicted Line-up

The team announced on Tuesday that in addition to Thorgan Hazard, Dan Axel-Zagadou and Roman Burki returned to full team training this week. While they may be in contention for this weekend, it seems likely they will be given more time to get up and running before the intense schedule in the coming weeks. We will likely see a familiar setup as was used against the smurfs, though Edin Terzic may opt to return Thomas Meunier to the squad after a few cameos to regain match sharpness. Morey played well last weekend, however, so he may retain his place in the team. Julian Brandt may also be relieved of his place after a lukewarm showing, but it seems Terzic is also giving Gio Reyna the rest he clearly needed. Could we see Youssoufa Moukoko involved in the starting 11? It would also be great to see Reus rested for someone like Reinier, but it seems likely the captain will retain his place.

Bielefeld have no reported injuries as it stands, so Die Schwarzgelben should expect to face the strongest line-up available from their neighbors to the north.

Prediction

Given Bielefeld’s lowly place in the table and their dismal goal differential, Dortmund should be able to get on the scoresheet through the red-hot Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland. If these two can click like they did against Sch*lke, it will be very difficult for the Bielefeld defense to contain them. The game will be another challenge against deep sitting teams for Terzic, who will no doubt be preparing his team to take their chances when they come. BVB will need to play clinically against a team who are likely to absorb as much pressure as they can throughout the match if they are to come away with points they really cannot afford to drop.

Please enjoy the results of this great photoshop challenge from the team’s twitter account.