Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach meet at Signal Iduna Park on Saturday in the pick of the Bundesliga's opening round of fixtures.
BVB finished runners-up to Bayern Munich last season, four points better off than fourth-placed Gladbach, and will be looking to go one better this time around.
Match preview
© Reuters
As German football icon Lothar Matthaus put it this week, the only way Dortmund have any chance of toppling Bayern is to have a "100% season" and hope their rivals drop off.
Bayern are the best side in world football after winning a domestic and European treble last season, but that is not to say BVB - and indeed Gladbach - will throw in the towel.
Indeed, despite the loss of right-back Achraf Hakimi, Lucien Favre has arguably strengthened his squad with the signings of Thomas Meunier, Reinier Jesus and Jude Bellingham.
Just as importantly, Jadon Sancho and Erling Braut Haaland remain Dortmund players with three weeks of the window to go, so fans have every right to be excited for the new term.
Dortmund ended last season on a sour note by losing two of their final three games, including a 4-0 home reverse at the hands of Hoffenheim on the final day of the campaign.
However, they have looked bright in pre-season and kicked off 2020-21 with a 5-0 win over Duisburg in round one of the DFB-Pokal on Monday, with five different players netting.
© Reuters
Among the scorers was Bellingham who, a month after arriving from Birmingham City, became the youngest scorer in the German club's history with a strike on his competitive debut.
Favre's men could have done with an easier fixture to kick things off in the Bundesliga, though, as Gladbach are also full of confidence heading into the new campaign.
Champions League football awaits the Foals this season after pipping Bayer Leverkusen to fourth place last time out, and that will be the target again this season.
Marco Rose's charges thrashed lower-league side Oberneuland 8-0 in their opening cup tie this week to make it four competitive victories in a row stretching into 2019-20.
Keeping that run going will be extremely tough, though, as they have lost 10 league games in a row against Dortmund - their longest ever losing streak against an opponent.
BVB have lost three of their last four Bundesliga home games, however, including their last two, so this may be the perfect time for the Foals to end that long-running hoodoo.
Borussia Dortmund form (all competitions): W
Borussia Monchengladbach form (all competitions): W
Team News
© Reuters
Marco Reus was also among the scorers for Dortmund in their emphatic cup victory, three seconds into his competitive return following seven months on the sidelines.
The German midfielder is in contention to start against his former club, but Thorgan Hazard will have something to say about that and is more likely to get the nod.
New signings Bellingham and Meunier appear to have done enough to start this opening league game, and Roman Burki is also back after missing the Duisburg tie.
As for the visitors, new signing Valentino Lazaro is nursing an injury that rules him out of contention.
Marcus Thuram and Alassane Plea are fighting to reach full fitness, but both will be given every chance to start this battle of the Borussias.
Key midfielder Denis Zakaria is also big fitness doubt, meaning that Christoph Kramer and Florian Neuhaus are likely to pair up in front of the back four.
Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Burki; Can, Hummels, Akanji; Meunier, Bellingham, Witsel, Hazard; Sancho, Reyna; Haaland
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Lainer, Elvedi, Ginter, Bensebaini; Kramer, Neuhaus; Wolf, Stindl, Hofmann; Thuram
We say: Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Borussia Monchengladbach
This clash between two of last season's top four surely will not disappoint, with both sides looking to kick off the campaign in a positive manner.
Dortmund have won their opening game in each of the last five Bundesliga seasons, doing so with an aggregate score of 18-3, so we are backing them to edge this one.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 2.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 2.5:dataData 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 40.27%. A win for Borussia Monchengladbach had a probability of 34.92% and a draw had a probability of 24.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Borussia Dortmund win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.71%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.41%) and 2-0 (6.31%). The likeliest Borussia Monchengladbach win was 1-2 (8.02%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.61%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 3.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Borussia Dortmund would win this match.
