Borussia Dortmund will be hoping to move back into the top four places in the Bundesliga when they make the short trip to Borussia-Park to face Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday night.
The hosts are currently in 11th place in the German top flight with 31 points after 28 games, while the visitors are the first side below the Champions League qualification spots with six games left to play.
Match preview
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After failing to win any of their first five games of the 2023-24 league season, Borussia Monchengladbach found themselves lingering close to the drop early on, but have since managed to get themselves back into mid-table, nine points clear of the drop.
The Foals have lost one and drawn three of their last five matches, but brought an end to that four-match winless streak by securing a 3-1 victory against Wolfsburg in their most recent outing last weekend.
Gerardo Seoane's side were handed an early blow at the Volkswagen Arena when Ridle Baku scored from Die Wolfe's first chance of the game in the seventh minute but they managed to turn the game around in the second half.
Ko Itakura levelled proceedings with a deflected strike from distance in the 53rd minute, before Nathan Ngoumou put Monchengladbach 2-1 ahead in the 58th after excellent play from Franck Honorat. The Foals then stayed in control of the game and created the better chances in the final phases. Rocco Reitz eventually secured the points with a third goal for his side in the 88th minute.
The hosts will now return to their home patch and will be looking to avoid a third consecutive match without victory, though it will not be an easy feat, having conceded eight goals in their last three league games at Borussia Park, including a 3-0 loss to Freiburg at the end of last month.
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Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund have only conceded two goals in their last seven away league matches, which will pose a significant challenge for Monchengladbach, who have only managed two wins in their last 11 Bundesliga games.
After securing a 2-0 win against Bayern Munich in their most recent away fixture, Die Schwarzgelben suffered a 1-0 home loss to Stuttgart last weekend. However, they are showing signs of improvement after a very poor first half of the season and are now competing with RB Leipzig for the final Champions League qualification spot.
Edin Terzic's men were in Champions League action in midweek but will have to come from a goal down in the reverse fixture at Signal Iduna Park next week after losing their first-leg quarter-final tie 2-1 against Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid.
A calamitous error by Chelsea loanee Ian Maatsen handed the La Liga outfit a gift to open the scoring and things went from bad to worse for Dortmund, as Samuel Lino scored Atletico's second goal of the game shortly after the half-hour mark. Sebastian Haller pulled one back late in the day to keep his side in the contest ahead of next week's crucial encounter.
While BVB are likely to have one eye on the upcoming midweek showdown, they will enter this match with confidence, unbeaten in their last nine games on the road in the league and hold the second-best away record in the top flight only behind runaway leaders Bayer Leverkusen.
When these sides met earlier in the season, Dortmund came out on top with a 4-2 victory, marking their 14th win in 17 games against this opponent, though they were beaten by the same scoreline on their last visit to this venue in the first half of last season.
Team News
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Seoane could be without as many as seven players for this match, including the likes of Grant-Leon Ranos (ankle), Tony Jantschke (groin) and Manu Kone (hamstring), all of whom are ruled out with injuries.
Alassane Plea has scored seven goals in 21 league appearances this season and is a doubt for this match due to a calf injury, while Christoph Kramer could return to the starting 11 after missing the last match due to illness.
Teenager Simon Walde has now missed 10 matches with a ligament tear and is likely done for the season, and Florian Neuhaus will be assessed ahead of kickoff after sitting out last week's win against Wolfsburg with an injured heel.
Dortmund are also likely to be without a few key personnel, but the biggest miss will be Donyell Malen (hip), who has netted 11 goals for BVB in the league and 14 across all competitions this term.
Ramy Bensebaini is only expected to return from a knee injury at the end of May, while Abdoulaye Kamara (knock) and Samuel Bamba (muscle) are unlikely to return to action this season.
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Omlin; Elvedi, Friedrich, Wober; Lainer, Weigl, Itakura, Netz; N'Goumou, Siebatcheu, Honorat
Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Kobel; Ryerson, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Maatsen; Sabitzer, Can, Sancho, Brandt, Adeyemi; Fullkrug
We say: Borussia Monchengladbach 2-3 Borussia Dortmund
While Dortmund will have one eye on their midweek fixture against Atletico Madrid, they cannot afford to give up any more points in the league, with a spot in next season's Champions League still hanging in the balance.
Each of the last four matches between these sides have ended with six goals scored, and we are expecting another high-scoring affair here, though we feel that the visitors will be the ones to come out on top.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
