Borussia Dortmund vs. Wolfsburg preview: BVB aiming to bounce back from PSG defeat
After losing 2-0 to Paris Saint-Germain in midweek, Borussia Dortmund will be looking for a response when they return to league action against Wolfsburg on Saturday.
| Photo: Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 4.0 |
Borussia Dortmund
While Dortmund may be unbeaten in 12 Bundesliga matches, their underwhelming performances in the early stages of the new season have come under scrutiny. After beginning the season with a narrow 1-0 win over FC Köln, Dortmund dropped points in draws against Bochum and newly-promoted Heidenheim.
They managed to return to winning ways last weekend, coming from 2-1 down to beat 10-man Freiburg 4-2 at the Europa-Park Stadion. However, any confidence built from that victory was quashed by their 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in Tuesday’s Champions League clash. With AC Milan and Newcastle United also in their group, a losing start to their European campaign has already put Dortmund on the back foot.
Edin Terzic’s side will now turn their attention back to league action, and the Dortmund boss will be hoping his side can produce the sort of dominant display that saw them cruise to a 6-0 victory over Wolfsburg when the two sides last met in May.
Despite getting off to a sluggish start, Dortmund head into Saturday’s encounter with an impressive home record, having gone 17 league games without defeat at Signal Iduna Park. Impressively, they have won 13 of those matches, and another win this weekend would certainly be welcomed by Terzic and his staff.
Team News
After picking up an injury in Tuesday's Champions League defeat, Marcel Sabitzer will miss Saturday's contest. Terzic is also without the services of Thomas Meunier and Mateu Morey.
Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg have made an encouraging start to Niko Kovac’s first full season in charge, having won three of their opening four matches. They got up and running with a 2-0 victory over Heidenheim in their league opener, before they edged out Köln to claim a second straight win.
After being beaten 3-1 by Hoffenheim on matchday three, Wolfsburg bounced back last weekend with a narrow 2-1 victory against Union Berlin. Goals from Jonas Wind and Joakim Maehle proved enough to help die Wölfe begin the campaign with consecutive home victories.
As a result of their fine form, they enter the weekend in sixth position, sitting one place and one point above Dortmund. Having failed to win any of their last 10 Bundesliga away encounters with die Schwarzgelben, Wolfsburg are hoping to claim an away win over Saturday’s opponents for the first time since December 2012 when they recorded a 3-2 victory. Since that result, Wolfsburg have lost eight of their 10 trips to Signal Iduna Park in the Bundesliga, including their last five away meetings.
Team News
Kilian Fischer and Lukas Nmecha are both sidelined with knee injuries, while Kevin Paredes is a doubt due to a thigh problem.