2. Bundesliga Topspiel preview: Dynamo Dresden vs. VfL Bochum

In a meeting between two sides who have both endured faltering starts and begin the weekend level on points in the bottom half of the table, Saturday’s Topspiel presents an opportunity for either Dresden or Bochum to put their most recent defeats behind them and begin climbing towards the right end of the table.

After a stressful return to the 2. Bundesliga last season, when they only secured survival on the final day, Dresden will be desperate to avoid a repeat and enjoy a much more comfortable campaign this time around. They have not made the best start on that front, however, winning just one of their opening three fixtures and sitting 16th with three points.

Their most recent outing produced a disappointing away defeat to Heidenheim. Despite being reduced to 10 men, Dresden found themselves 2-1 up with less than 15 minutes remaining. However, a disastrous collapse saw Thomas Stamm’s men concede four goals in a 14-minute spell before eventually losing 5-3, with Jonas Sterner scoring a consolation deep into stoppage time.

After conceding twice from set pieces at the weekend, Stamm has called for a clear improvement in that department this week:

“Bochum is very solid defensively, but they can also generate a lot of attacking power and have recently added some pacey players to their squad. Similar to the match in Heidenheim, defending set pieces will be crucial. That’s been a major focus this week. My Bochum counterpart has a very clear plan. We’ll need a top performance if we want to take any points away from the game.”

Dresden moved to add further quality on deadline day, signing Patrice Covic and Kennedy Okpala on loan from Werder Bremen and Paderborn respectively.

Bochum have also made a precarious start, despite plenty of talk of promotion ambitions before the season began. They too have won just one of their opening three games and sit just a few places above Dresden thanks to their superior goal difference, with both of their defeats coming by a single-goal margin.

Their second loss of the campaign came at home to newly promoted Osnabrück last time out. Despite dominating possession, Bochum looked toothless in attack, with 20 shots producing just one effort on target. It summed up a frustrating afternoon for Uwe Rösler’s side, as Ismael Badjie’s fourth-minute strike proved enough to secure a 1-0 victory for Osnabrück.

Rösler has demanded much more from his side this time out following last week’s defeat:

“We have to be courageous. We will try to win the ball back high up the pitch at times. That will be very, very difficult. But we have to try and we will give everything. We will have a different approach than in the game against Osnabrück. We expect a lot of energy and initiative. We want to have a healthy share of possession.”

Bochum also acted late in the transfer window, bringing in experienced defender Sean Klaiber on a free transfer, Charlie Patino on loan from Deportivo La Coruña and forward Jarne Steuckers on loan from Belgian side Genk.

Dresden won both meetings between the sides last season, prevailing 2-1 away from home before securing a 2-0 victory at the Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion in April. Bochum’s last victory at the stadium came back in 2020, when current Premier League player Vitaly Janelt scored a late winner in a 2-1 triumph.

Team news

Dynamo Dresden: Head coach Thomas Stamm will definitely have to replace the suspended Thomas Keller following his red card. Christoph Daferner, Lars Bünning, Kenneth Schmidt and Till Neininger also remain unavailable.

VfL Bochum: Babis Drakas and Jean Manuel Mbom remain unavailable. Koji Miyoshi trained today and is fully fit, while all other players are ready to play.

Predicted lineups

Dynamo Dresden (4-2-3-1): Schreiber; Sterner, Muhamedbegovic, Müller, Rossipal; Wagner, Rapp; Okpala, Hauptmann, Bobzien; Vermeij.

VfL Bochum (4-2-3-1): Horn; Olsen, Steinwender, Mets, Wittek; Cokaj, Pannewig; Rasmussen, Miyoshi, Holtmann; Hofmann.