Bochum make the very short trip to Dortmund as they play Borussia Dortmund at the Signal Iduna Park on Saturday afternoon. BVB will want to try and improve their consistency as they play a struggling Bochum.
In midweek, Dortmund played Copenhagen in a meaningless Champions League game and that was seen with the result as they drew 1-1 in Denmark. They initially took the lead through Thorgan Hazard but would concede just before half time, the result had no effect on their position in the group.
Last weekend, Dortmund beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1. Julian Brandt opened the scoring but BVB would then quickly relinquish their lead as Daichi Kamada equalised five minutes later. Dortmund won the game thanks to a Jude Bellingham goal making it three goals in two games for him in the Bundesliga. However, this was not a commanding Dortmund performance, it required poor refereeing and a man of the match performance from Gregor Kobel to keep out Frankfurt who deserved more from the game.
Bochum have experienced somewhat of a revival under Thomas Letsch after sacking Thomas Reis in September. This revival includes beating Frankfurt and Union Berlin who have been two of the most inform teams in the league this season. However, they did lose last weekend 4-0 away at Wolfsburg.
Dortmund have had a positive last two weeks beating Stuttgart and Frankfurt while drawing with Manchester City. However, Stuttgart are a team that have struggled for the majority of the season and BVB’s win against Frankfurt was not deserved.
Edin Terzic’s side also find themselves fourth and have already lost four games this season, which shows their inconsistency, but this can be pinned to the fact that Dortmund have experienced a high number of injuries to starters so they have struggled to find a consistent attacking line-up, as seen with their attack.
After a scare in midweek, Terzic announced during his press conference before the game that Kobel and Mats Hummels who both went off injured in midweek will be fit for the game on Saturday.
Bochum went undefeated in the matchups between the two teams last year first drawing 1-1 at the Ruhrstadion before beating Dortmund 4-3 at the Westfalenstadion in a game that was contender for game of the season last year.
Probable Borussia Dortmund XI
Kobel – Süle, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Hazard – Bellingham, Özcan – Adeyemi, Brandt, Reyna – Moukoko
Probable Bochum XI
Riemann – Gamboa, Ordets, Lampropoulos, Danilo Soares – Losilla, Stöger – Oesi-Tutu, Förster, Antwi-Adjei – Hofmann
GGFN | Jack Meenan
