Dortmund vs. Gladbach preview: BVB look to end poor league run
Improved Gladbach travel to the Signal Iduna Park on Matchday 12 to play a Dortmund side that are starting to fall down the Bundesliga table.
Dortmund
Despite leading their brutal Champions League group, it’s not all smiles in the Dortmund camp without a win in their last three league games. They now sit 5th, a full 10 points behind Leverkusen, as the title now feels like it’s slipping out of their reach.
BVB have a daunting schedule to close out 2023 as they face Milan, Leverkusen, Stuttgart, Leipzig, and PSG in a row. They need three points against Gladbach in order to ease some confidence back into the squad.
On Thursday, Edin Terzic said, “We looked at the analysis after the Stuttgart game and worked on it. Today and tomorrow we will do this again with all players. - We have to approach the game completely differently on Saturday. We have to be there from the start. I expect us to play our football and bring it on the pitch.”
Team News
Felix Nmecha is out until 2024 with a hip injury, while Mateu Morey and Julien Duranville are still unlikely to feature.
Gladbach
With a couple of wins and 10 goals from their last three games, Gladbach are starting to improve under Gerardo Seoane. They blew Wolfsburg out of the water on Matchday 11 with a wonderful game from Franck Honorat and Rocco Reitz on the right side of midfield.
There remains a question mark up front, as Jordan and Tomas Cvancara are battling to take the starting no. 9 position. With a little more defensive help, Gladbach could surprise the Bundeliga and challenge for the European places if they keep this goal-scoring pace up.
Seoane commented, "Our head-to-head record against BVB isn't important to me. We know that it's always a difficult task to play Dortmund, especially away. We want to face this challenge with courage on the ball, aggression and intensity."
Team News
Jordan is available for Saturday, while Jonas Omlin, Hannes Wolf, Tony Jantschke, and Mamadou Doucoure are all likely out. To the delight of everyone following successful cancer treatment, Stefan Lainer returned to training this week, but it’s unclear if he’s ready to feature.