A Return Back to The Yellow Wall
Two weeks ago, when Dortmund last played in front of their home fans at the Westfalenstadion, they lost to their rivals, Bayern Munich. Now sitting 11 points behind the Bavarians, second place Dortmund look to fend off Hoffenheim, Stuttgart and Leipzig. who are all within a few games of taking their runner-up position. This weekend’s matchup is against Augsburg, who currently sit ninth overall in the Bundesliga. With title hopes seeming more and more far-fetched, BVB will try to close out the remaining
nine games of the Bundesliga strongly and show the home crowd something to look forward to in this upcoming Schlotterbeck Derby.
With Dortmund having had a rough past few games, the rest of the season will most likely be centred on development while still keeping a watchful eye on teams chasing the Black and Yellow’s second place spot and potentially naïvely/optimistically monitoring on the league leader’s position (heavy emphasis on naïve). Against Köln had fewer shots and only two goals against a team that played with 10 men for 45 minutes and was in a relegation battle. The Yellow Wall needs to see some intent and a definitive show of strength to give them back some hope, so don’t be surprised if Kovač goes for an uncharacteristically more attacking approach (hopefully). Don’t be surprised if more minutes are given to younger players and different strategies are employed during the game.
Opponents Augsburg are coming off a devastating defeat to Leipzig in which they lost 2-1 due to an own goal in the 92nd minute of the match despite leading for the majority of the game. Despite being the away side, missing an early penalty (thanks to Keven Schlotterbeck) and only retaining 39% possession, Augsburg still put up a fight against a strong opponent. Stats like Augsburg high expected goals, chances created and shot tallies prove Augsburg can be unsuspectingly dangerous. Dortmund will need to be very weary and mindful of the counterattacking threat they pose.
Another key point to highlight is the return of Augsburg defender, Cédric Zesiger who is returning from a 1-match suspension and will likely make an appearance at the Signal Iduna Park, alongside the likes of Keven Schlotterbeck who is having a strong season and a promising, young defender in Noahkai Banks. BVB’s attack will have their work cut out for them.
Predicted Lineup
Dortmund, on the other hand, seem to be short on defenders with Emre Can and Filippo Mané both out due to injuries, and Ramy Bensebaini suspended due to accumulating five yellow cards over the season, Niko Kovač will likely give minutes to rookie Luca Reggiani. Coming off their last insipid match, Dortmund will look to sharpen its attack and potentially try out new attacking lineups and strategies. This could introduce the possibility of players like Samuele Inácio and Fábio Silva getting some more play time with the likes of Brandt and Guirassy likely getting decreased minutes unless needed.
Score Prediction
The Schlotterbeck Derby should favour Dortmund despite the home team’s shallow pool of defenders and lackluster goal scoring threat recently. While Augsburg do have a potent counter-attack they have been a weak team when playing as away from home which should give a clean 3-0 victory for BVB.
