Match Preview: Borussia Dortmund Host Ailing Hertha Berlin

Bayern Munich just dropped a clanger against Borussia Monchengladbach, losing 3-2 and opening the door for both Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund to advance in the table. Luckily for both, they’re facing two of the worst teams in the Bundesliga right now in Schalke and Hertha Berlin.

BVB are hosting Hertha Berlin tomorrow afternoon at 4:30pm (in good old British clock times), hoping to extend their 100% record in 2023 a little further. Hertha Berlin are currently sat in 16th place in the Bundesliga, and until their surprise 4-1 win against Borussia Monchengladbach in their most recent outing they had won just once in their last eight games. Needless to say, Hertha Berlin are not very good. In recent years they have replaced Hamburg as the big team that keep barely avoiding relegation while being a moderately expensive mess. Maybe this year is Hertha’s year? Or maybe we’ll be back here next season saying the same thing.

Anyway, it would be a little embarrassing if we had a chance to catch Bayern tomorrow and instead dropped points against Hertha Berlin at the Westfalenstadion... Can’t imagine BVB doing that, right?

Predicted Lineup

I think we will see a little bit of rotation after BVB’s hard-fought 1-0 win against Chelsea during the week, but I don’t expect it to be a complete overhaul. Julian Ryerseon will come in for Marius Wolf, to keep them both fit and firing, while I could see Salih Özcan coming out of the starting lineup to allow for a slightly more offensive team to face a weaker opposition.

In Özcan’s place I think Marco Reus will step in, and to make room for him I think Brandt will either get pushed out to the right, or be given a rest in place of Jamie Bynoe-Gittens.

It’s refreshing to realise that Borussia Dortmund currently have quite a few players that are in-form and you can easily make a case for several different rotations. Unfortunately these lineups are often a lot easier to pick than they are right now!

Player to Watch: None of Them Dodi Lukebakio

Dodi Lukebakio has spent most of his time at Hertha Berlin being a standout in a lacklustre team, and that continues to be the case this season. Hertha managed to keep hold of the Belgian winger despite Lyon pursuing him in the January transfer window, but he hasn’t actually been playing a bunch in 2023.

Nonetheless, he came off the bench to score in Hertha’s 4-1 win against Borussia Monchengladbach, and he has been their most potent threat in the final third this season. He’s not a world-beater, but he’s definitely someone that BVB should be wary of (if Hertha Berlin actually play him...).

Prediction

This Hertha Berlin side is not very good. Borussia Dortmund are more than capable of finding a way to lose to a team that’s really not up to much, they’ve certainly done it plenty of times before, but it would take a lot to predict that’s actually going to happen.

Borussia Dortmund 0-1 Hertha Berlin

No I’m just kidding. I think BVB should see this one out.

Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Hertha Berlin