Borussia Dortmund v Arminia Bielefeld preview
Dortmund will be aiming to close the gap to Bayern Munich with a victory on Sunday, but they will need to be aware of the threat possessed by Arminia Bielefeld, who are battling to retain their Bundesliga place.
| Marco Rose. | Photo: Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Borussia Dortmund
After Bayern dropped points against Hoffenheim on Saturday, Dortmund have the chance to close the gap to the league leaders. Although they sit ten points behind the defending champions, Dortmund could move to within four points of the league leaders by winning their two games in hand.
Dortmund may be unbeaten in their last three league games, but they did drop points in their most recent outing against Augsburg with that contest ending in a 1-1 draw after Thorgan Hazard's opener was cancelled out by a 78th-minute equaliser from Noah Sarenren Bazee.
The Black and Yellow have scored more home goals than any other side in the Bundesliga, netting at least twice in all of their league encounters at Signal Iduna Park this season.
Marco Rose's side are the only Bundesliga team yet to draw a home match this season, with 10 of their 12 home league games resulting in victory. Dortmund will be looking to add to that tally on Sunday, as they bid to claim a league double over Bielefeld after winning 3-1 in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.
The Dortmund boss will have to make at least a couple of changes to his side with Mats Hummels and Raphaël Guerreiro both sidelined after testing positive for COVID-19. Illness keeps Marco Reus out, while Rose is also unable to call upon Manuel Akanji, Thomas Meunier, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Youssoufa Moukoko and Steffen Tigges. Although there is positive news with the hosts set to welcome Erling Haaland back to the squad after the Norway international returned to full training this week.
Arminia Bielefeld
Bielefeld are in a perilous position, with just two points separating them from the relegation playoff spot. Die Arminen will be particularly concerned after losing three of their last four matches, and they enter Sunday's contest off the back of consecutive defeats.
Frank Kramer will also be disappointed that his team have failed to score in their last two outings, while they shipped four goals across those two fixtures.
However, Bielefeld can take encouragement from the fact that they have conceded just 16 away league goals this season - only Freiburg and RB Leipzig have conceded fewer - and their resolute backline will need to be at their very best to restrict Dortmund on Sunday.
Like their hosts, the visitors have a number of absentees to contend with. The squad has been affected by several COVID-19 cases, with Guilherme Ramos, Joakim Nilsson, Nathan de Medina and Gonzalo Castro all out after testing positive. Meanwhile, Kramer will not be able to take up his position on the touchline after he tested positive, with assistant coach Stefan Kleineheismann set to lead the team against Dortmund.