Sunday's Bundesliga action includes a huge clash at the top of the table, with Borussia Dortmund hosting Bayer Leverkusen at Signal Iduna Park.
The hosts will be hoping to keep the pressure on Bayern Munich in their race for the title, whilst the visitors will be looking to solidify their place in the top four.
Match preview
© Reuters
With Bayern playing earlier on in the weekend of matchday 21, Dortmund could see the gap between themselves and the champions extended to nine points before they have chance to kick a ball on Sunday.
Although, with the leaders facing a tough test of their own against RB Leipzig at the Allianz Arena, Marco Rose will be hoping that Die Roten Bullen can do his side a favour.
With their destiny out of their hands though, all that Rose and his side can do is focus on their own performances and continue to pick up three points week in week out, in the hope of an eventual rare slip-up from Bayern.
That is exactly what BVB have done since returning from Germany's winter break as well, having come from 2-0 behind to win a dramatic 3-2 thriller at Eintracht Frankfurt, before thumping high flyers Freiburg by a 5-1 scoreline, and then winning another entertaining clash by a 3-2 scoreline at European-chasing Hoffenheim immediately before the international break.
The first of those wins, at Die Adler, is what cut the daunting winter break gap of nine points down to the current six, so Dortmund will cling onto the glimmer of hope that remains that the Bayern machine can finally be prevented from retaining their crown come May.
Having won their last six meetings with Leverkusen at Signal Iduna Park, in which they have netted a staggering 23 goals in that time, the Black and Yellows will be confident of picking up a fourth consecutive Bundesliga win on Sunday, and keeping the pressure on the Bavarians in the process.
© Reuters
Meanwhile, Leverkusen may be all but out of the Bundesliga title race, with Sunday's visitors heading into the clash eight points behind their hosts, and a huge 14 points between themselves and Bayern at the summit, but they still have plenty to fight for in the remaining months of the campaign.
Having missed out on Champions League football in each of the last two seasons, Gerardo Seoane's side are well on track to end their absence from Europe's grand stage.
Die Werkself occupy third spot as we head into matchday 21, but with just two points separating them from Freiburg in fifth, the final two spots in the top four remain up for grabs between now and May.
In fact, Leverkusen only find themselves eight points above Mainz 05 in 10th place at the time of writing, so the entire top half of the Bundesliga are in the mix of an almighty battle for the desired European places.
Therefore, it was vital that Seoane's side began the New Year on the front foot, and with seven points from their first three games of 2022, his players have succeeded well in their task so far.
Although top goalscorer Patrik Schick somehow failed to get on the scoresheet in the 5-1 hammering of Augsburg immediately prior to the international break, the Czech Republic striker will be confident of getting himself on the scoresheet against a leaky Dortmund defence on Sunday, having found the net an incredible 18 times in just 17 Bundesliga appearances so far this season.
- D
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- L
- W
- L
- D
- L
- D
- W
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Dortmund look set to be hit by a huge blow in the build-up to this huge fixture on Sunday, with their talisman Erling Braut Haaland set to miss out due to a groin injury.
His 16 league goals this season have only been bettered by Schick and Robert Lewandowski in the Bundesliga goalscoring charts, and Donyell Malen will be expected to lead the line and take on the Norwegian's goalscoring burden.
Emre Can, Mateu Morey and Marcel Schmelzer will definitely join Haaland on the sidelines, whilst backup goalkeepers Roman Burki and Luca Unbehaun, as well as Thomas Meunier, are listed as doubts.
As for the visitors, new signing Sardar Azmoun is unlikely to feature following his arrival from Zenit St Petersburg during the final days of the transfer window.
Edmond Tapsoba is also likely to be unavailable for Leverkusen, with the defender only just returning from his international duty with Burkina Faso at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Piero Hincapie should partner Jonathan Tah in the back line once more as a result, whilst Kerem Demirbay should slot into defensive midfield after serving a suspension against Augsburg before the break.
Julian Baumgartlinger, Exequiel Palacios, Paulinho and Daley Sinkgraven are all listed as doubts, whilst second-choice goalkeeper Andrei Lunev is definitely out due to a ligament injury.
Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Kobel; Wolf, Akanji, Hummels, Guerreiro; Brandt, Dahoud, Bellingham; Reus, Malen, Hazard
Bayer Leverkusen possible starting lineup:
Hradecky; Frimpong, Tah, Hincapie, Bakker; Andrich, Demirbay; Bellarabi, Wirtz, Diaby; Schick
We say: Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Bayer Leverkusen
The meetings between these two sides never seem to fail to deliver entertainment, with a remarkable tally of 40 goals being netted during the last eight encounters, and all the signs are pointing towards a high-scoring affair on Sunday.
Both Dortmund and Leverkusen have been prolific in front of goal this season, whilst also leaving a leaky defence at the back as well, but we are predicting the hosts to just about edge a thriller thanks to their dominance over their opponents in recent years.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Borussia Dortmund win with a probability of 57.86%. A win for Bayer Leverkusen had a probability of 22.07% and a draw had a probability of 20.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Borussia Dortmund win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.44%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (7.15%) and 3-1 (6.99%). The likeliest Bayer Leverkusen win was 1-2 (5.6%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (8.49%). The actual scoreline of 2-5 was predicted with a 0.2% likelihood.
