Hoffenheim vs. Borussia Dortmund preview: Can Dortmund maintain their unbeaten start?
Borussia Dortmund will attempt to extend their unbeaten start to the Bundesliga season when they face Hoffenheim on Friday.
| Photo: Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 4.0 |
Hoffenheim
Hoffenheim have not looked back since losing 2-1 to Freiburg on the opening weekend of the Bundesliga season. Since that disappointing result, they have put together an impressive four-game winning run, which includes victories over Heidenheim, Wolfsburg and Koln.
Last weekend, they continued their fine form with a 2-0 away victory over Union Berlin thanks to an Andrej Kramarić penalty and a Maximilian Beier strike. As well as claiming all three points, Hoffenheim ended a run of 12 league games without a clean sheet.
After finishing just three points off the bottom three last term, die Kraichgauer will be pleased to be sitting in fifth place after five rounds of matches. With Hoffenheim kicking off matchday six, they will move to the top of the table with a win on Friday. However, claiming all three points could prove tricky after failing to win any of their last six matches against Dortmund (D1, L5). If they were to emerge victorious from Friday’s encounter, it would represent Hoffenheim’s first win over die Schwarzgelben since cruising to a 4-0 away victory in June 2020.
Team News
Bambasé Conté, Dennis Geiger, Marco John and Stanley Nsoki are all ruled out for the hosts through injury.
Borussia Dortmund
After losing their Champions League opener to Paris Saint-Germain, Dortmund bounced back with a narrow 1-0 victory against Wolfsburg last weekend. Marco Reus scored the decisive goal to guide Dortmund to their third win of the Bundesliga season, extending their unbeaten run to 13 league matches.
Having taken 11 points from their five league matches, Dortmund head into Friday’s contest in sixth position. Like their opponents, they also have the opportunity to temporarily move to the top of the table with a victory. Die Schwarzgelben will be confident about their chances of claiming maximum points after winning their last three away meetings with Hoffenheim, including a 1-0 win in their most recent trip to the PreZero Arena.
However, their away form has been inconsistent since Julian Brandt’s goal guided them to a narrow win over Hoffenheim in February. Since that result, Dortmund have won two, drawn three and lost one of their last seven Bundesliga away matches.
Team News
Marcel Sabitzer is set to miss a second straight game with a groin injury, while Dortmund are also without the services of Mateu Morey and Thomas Meunier.