Borussia Dortmund will endeavour to consolidate their position in the top four of the Bundesliga table when they travel to Weserstadion to face top-six outsiders Werder Bremen on Saturday evening.
The two teams last butted heads in October last year when BVB claimed a slender 1-0 home victory, courtesy of a second-half strike from Julian Brandt.
Match preview
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Following an impressive run of four wins in their first five games of 2024, Werder Bremen have since failed to come out on top in their last two Bundesliga matches, with a 1-1 home draw against basement club Darmstadt taking place before a 2-1 away defeat to 10-man Heidenheim last weekend.
January loan signing Skelly Alvero scored his first goal for Bremen in second-half stoppage time not long after Marius Bulter was sent off for two bookable offences, but the River Islanders were ultimately undone by a first-half brace from Maximilian Beier and were condemned to their 10th league loss of the campaign.
Despite defeat, Ole Werner's side remain on course to better last season's 13th-placed finish as they currently sit eighth in the Bundesliga standings, seven points behind the top six with 10 matches remaining – five of which are against current top-half sides, though, including Saturday's clash with Dortmund.
Although Bremen have experienced a mixed run of form on home soil in recent months, winning, drawing and losing three games each in their last nine, Werner believes that "opponents do not enjoy coming" to Weserstadion and hopes that another "special" atmosphere can spur his team on to claim maximum points.
Success on Saturday could prove challenging, though, as Bremen have only won two of their last 10 Bundesliga meetings with Dortmund, while they last celebrated a top-flight home victory over BVB in December 2014 (2-1).
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Borussia Dortmund bounced back from a 3-2 home defeat to Hoffenheim when they picked up all three points in a routine 2-0 away victory over Union Berlin last weekend.
Karim Adeyemi, starting his first game since mid-December after recovering from injury, netted a stunning opener on the stroke of half time, before Chelsea loanee Ian Maatsen wrapped up the points with his first goal in German football on the 90-minute mark.
Despite winning only two of their last five Bundesliga matches, Edin Terzic's men still sit fourth in the table, just one point clear of RB Leipzig in fifth, while they are six points behind Stuttgart in third, 10 points adrift of Bayern Munich in second and 20 points behind unbeaten leaders Bayer Leverkusen.
Dortmund are sure to have one eye on their Champions League last-16 second-leg tie with PSV Eindhoven next Tuesday, but they must first turn their attention to Saturday's clash with Bremen, a side whom they have beaten a total of 48 times in their Bundesliga history – only against Frankfurt (49) have they won more games against a single opponent in the division.
BVB travel to Weserstadion boasting a seven-game unbeaten run away from home, while they have won eight and drawn two of their previous 11 top-flight visits to Bremen, so Terzic and co will be confident of success this weekend.
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Werder Bremen trio Marco Friedl, Amos Pieper (both ankle) and Spyros Angelidis (hand) all remain sidelined with injuries, but Niklas Stark (hip), Isak Hansen-Aaroen (thigh) and Milos Veljkovic (knee) have all taken part in training this week and could return to the matchday squad.
Olivier Deman will serve a one-match suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season last time out, so Felix Agu is expected to start at left wing-back.
Rafael Santos Borre's loan spell at Bremen has come to an end after the Eintracht Frankfurt striker completed a permanent move to Brazilian outfit Internacional earlier this week; either Justin Njinmah or Nick Woltemade are therefore set to start up front with top scorer and former Dortmund striker Marvin Ducksch.
As for BVB, striker Sebastien Haller remains sidelined with an ankle injury picked up on Africa Cup of Nations duty with winners Ivory Coast last month, while young forward Samuel Bamba is ruled out with a muscle problem.
However, first-choice goalkeeper Gregor Kobel and midfielder Felix Nmecha have returned to light training this week after spells out with respective groin and hip injuries, and both players could be involved on Saturday.
Maatsen is set to keep his place at left-back at the expense of Ramy Bensebaini, while Donyell Malen is available to return from a one-match ban and will battle with Jadon Sancho for a start on the right side of attack, as Niclas Fullkrug leads the line on his first return to former club Bremen.
Werder Bremen possible starting lineup:
Zetterer; Malatini, Gross, Jung; Lynen; Weiser, Schmid, Stage, Agu; Njinmah, Ducksch
Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Kobel; Ryerson, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Maatsen; Sabitzer, Can; Malen, Brandt, Adeyemi; Fullkrug
We say: Werder Bremen 1-2 Borussia Dortmund
Prior to their 1-0 win in the reverse fixture, Dortmund had scored at least two or more goals in each of their previous 11 meetings with Bremen, so they should be confident of breaching their backline once again on Saturday.
Bremen cannot be taken lightly by BVB, though, as they have taken points from the likes of Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig this season, but we believe that the visitors will find a way to come out on top to boost their top-four hopes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
