Borussia Dortmund vs. Mainz 05 preview: Can BVB return to winning ways?
Borussia Dortmund will look to end their five-game winless league run when they face Mainz 05 on Tuesday.
Borussia Dortmund
Dortmund poor run of form continued at the weekend, as they played out a 1-1 draw in their away meeting with Augsburg. Ermedin Demirović opened the scoring for the Fuggerstädter, before Donyell Malen pulled his side level in the 35th minute. Unfortunately for Edin Terzic’s side, they were unable to find a winner in the second half, ensuring they had to settle for a share of the spoils.
Having taken just two points from their last three league games, Dortmund are currently sitting in fifth place with five points separating them from the top four ahead of the final round of fixtures of 2023.
While they have avoided defeat in their last six meetings with Mainz (W4, D2), Dortmund were unable to claim maximum points when the two sides last faced off at Signal Iduna Park in May. On that occasion, die Schwarzgelben were forced to fight back from two goals down to salvage a point. With that mind, Dortmund will be hoping for a far more comfortable evening in Tuesday’s contest.
Team News
Dortmund will be unable to call upon Julian Ryerson, Felix Nmecha, Julien Duranville, Karim Adeyemi and Youssoufa Moukoko.
Mainz 05
Like their hosts, Mainz are also in the midst of a five-game winless run (D3, L2). Die Nullfünfer, who have won just one league game this season, fell to a narrow defeat in their most recent outing against Heidenheim. A 12-minute effort from Marvin Pieringer proved to be the difference between the two sides in Saturday’s contest.
After falling to their eighth Bundesliga defeat of the season, Mainz are languishing in the bottom two with a point separating them from safety. Jan Siewert's side will now turn their attention to Tuesday's encounter, where they will attempt to claim their first Bundesliga away win since April.
Although they are one of two sides yet to win a top-flight away game this term, Mainz have managed to take a point from each of their last five matches on the road. After failing to win any of their last six head-to-head games with Dortmund (W4, D2), Mainz would happily take a point from their midweek away trip.
Team News
Mainz are without Robin Zentner, Anthony Caci, Andreas Hanche-Olsen, Josuha Guilavogui, Nelson Weiper, Maxim Leitsch, Leandro Barreiro and Edimilson Fernandes. Meanwhile, defender Silvan Widmer is a doubt due to illness.