Match Preview: BVB Head to Stuttgart for a Friday Night Match

Dortmund will meet Stuttgart away from home tommorrow after last week’s disasterous loss against RB Leipzig. BVB are currently nine points behind Bayern and six points ahead of third-place Leverkusen, which will, in all likelihood, pit them in second for the remainder of the campaign. In what can only be described as an incredibly disappointing season, BVB will have to try and use their six remaining matches in the Bundesliga to gain some positive momentum for next year. However, with rumors swirling about members of the team wanting a move or being forced to leave this summer, Marco Rose is left with the tall task of getting the squad on the same page.

Though this match and the ones moving forward this season may appear meaningless from a Borussia Dortmund perspective, they could prove to be key in some of Sebastian Kehl’s decision-making this summer. Kehl mentioned in an interview with SZ that he wants players who truly want to play for the club:

If this is true, players whose names have been mentioned in transfer rumors, such as Julian Brandt and Thorgan Hazard, will have the next six matches to show the new sporting director why they deserve to stay. These two players, in particular, have the quality to play at BVB but have shown a considerable lack of effort on the field or in training. Now is their final chance to prove they have the work ethic to stay at the club.

Lineup Prediction

Having been embarrassed pretty thoroughly last Saturday, it’s fair to assume that there will be a few changes to the 11 this Friday. The no longer jet-lagged Gio Reyna will likely join the starting 11 this week along with Mahmoud Dahoud in exchange for Axel Witsel. Though many fans are hoping to see the newly promoted youngster Jamie Bynoe-Gittens play tomorrow, he’ll most likely enter as a substitute, given he has never played at the top level before. Donyell Malen will also not be starting this week, as it’s been reported that the striker didn’t make the trip to Stuttgart for unknown reasons.

Prediction

Stuttgart have come into some form lately, winning two of their last four matches, but they will still enter this game as massive underdogs. They’ll also be without target-man and BVB linked striker Sasa Kalajdzic who contracted Covid and will miss the next couple of games. So, despite all of the negativity surrounding BVB at the moment, Stuttgart’s weaknesses are too obvious to ignore. I predict a 4-2 Dortmund win.