Bundesliga Match Preview: BVB Look to Lock in Second Place Against Greuther Fürth

There are now two games remaining in the Bundesliga season, and Borussia Dortmund are travelling for their final away match of the season before facing Hertha Berlin at the Westfalenstadion on the final day of the season. They will be facing Greuther Fürth, the Bundesliga’s resident punching bags. With a win, Dortmund would mathematically guarantee a second place finish in the Bundesliga, which I suppose would be a nice consolation for an otherwise trophyless season. Fürth, on the other hand, are already locked into the bottom spot of the Bundesliga, so they don’t have anything to play for other than pride.

We’re about to go roughly three months without watching BVB play, so it would be nice to see a healthy squad play one last time with Haaland, Reus, Hazard, and Malen all clicking on offense. Yes, it would be nice. Unfortunately, the injury gods seem determined to deny us the chance to see the squad at full health. According to Ruhr Nachrichten, none of Mahmoud Dahoud, Thomas Meunier, Donyell Malen, or Gregor Kobel are set to return.

And if you’re looking forward to watching BVB’s young players like Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Tom Rothe, well... too bad, they’ve been sent back down to the U-19s to give them a chance to play for the U-19 German Championship, DFB Pokal, and Westphalian Championship.

This leaves a motley collection of U-23s to make up BVB’s bench and squad.

Predicted Lineup

This is pretty similar to the lineup that faced Bochum last weekend, but I’ve replaced Witsel with Can, who returned from a one-game suspension he served for collecting too many yellow cards. I also hope that Marco Rose gives U-23s Emmanuel Pherai and Antonios Papadapolous looks in the lineup, either starting or off the bench, instead of having Zagadou or Reinier waste valuable minutes that could help the youngsters develop.

Prediction

Greuther Fürth have had a few draws against decent teams over the past few weeks, so I wouldn’t say a win is guaranteed, but it’s looking pretty likely. Still, I’ll predict an unusually close win of 2-1.