Borussia Dortmund vs. Darmstadt preview: Can BVB end their winless run?
Borussia Dortmund will attempt to claim their first competitive win since November when they face Darmstadt on Saturday.
Borussia Dortmund
Dortmund will be hoping to experience an upturn in fortunes after experiencing a difficult first half of the season. Edin Terzic’s side finished 2023 with a disappointing six-game winless run in all competitions (D4, L2). Their last three matches before the winter break all produced 1-1 scorelines, including their most recent outing against Mainz 05.
Having found wins hard to come by, die Schwarzgelben are currently sitting in fifth place with six points separating them from fourth position. If Dortmund are to close the gap to the top four, they will need to start picking up victories on the road, having failed to win any of their last four league games since beating Hoffenheim in September.
Not only will they be looking to claim all three points, but the visitors will also be hoping to clinch their first away clean sheet of the Bundesliga season.
Team News
Julian Ryerson, Felix Nmecha, Julien Duranville and Karim Adeyimi are all ruled out, while Mateu Morey and Marius Wolf are doubts due to illness. Ramy Bensebaini and Sebastien Haller are currently away on international duty with Algeria and the Ivory Coast respectively.
Meanwhile, Ian Maatsen and Jadon Sancho are expected to be in the squad after joining on loan from Chelsea and Manchester United respectively.
Darmstadt
Darmstadt finished 2023 bottom of the Bundesliga table after mustering just 10 points from their 16 league matches. Torsten Lieberknecht’s side failed to win any of their final nine league matches of the previous calendar year, leaving them without a victory since beating Augsburg 2-1 on October 7.
While they have struggled for victories in recent times, Darmstadt did at least show great character in their final match before the winter break. They fought back on three occasions to take a point from their away clash with Hoffenheim.
Although they could have taken confidence from that result, die Lilien will begin the new year with three points separating them from safety. They will hope to pull off a surprise victory on Saturday when they face Dortmund for the first time since recording a 2-1 win in February 2017.
Team News
Fraser Hornby, Braydon Manu and Fabian Nürnberger due to ankle injuries. Oscar Vilhelmsson, Aaron Seydel and Marvin Mehlem are ruled out through injury, while Christoph Zimmermann and Mathias Honsak are both doubts for Saturday's contest.