Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund Plan to Keep Their Title Hopes Alive

Borussia Dortmund vs RB Leipzig

Borussia Dortmund have another opportunity to inch closer to Bundesliga leaders and defending champions Bayern Munich as they’ll aim to grab more points when they host RB Leipzig at Signal Iduna Park.

Marco Rose’s men are at second place with 57 points, which is six points behind Bayern Munich. And now that they’re out of the Europa League, they have set their full focus on trying to dethrone the Bavarians.

But getting another win will be easier said than done as RB Leipzig are a much-improved side under Domenico Tedesco. The Red Bulls were once at the bottom half of the table, but now they’ve risen to fourth place with 45 points.

The pre-match SBOTOP betting odds predict that this will be another close encounter which will also include several Bundesliga 2022 highlights.

Continue to read below as we’ll give you a preview of this highly-anticipated matchup.

Talking Points

Erling Haaland and Borussia Dortmund can’t catch a break

BVB have had their share of missed opportunities and they couldn’t afford to have more of those in these next few weeks.

However, their quest to finding a new direction and possibly winning the championship will only get harder as their injuries continue to pile up lately – including their best player in Erling Haaland.

The Norwegian striker is listed as doubtful to play this weekend after picking up an ankle injury while being on international duty. In their 9-0 friendly victory against Armenia, Haaland had to be taken off at half-time for precautionary purposes.

Haaland is no longer new to dealing with injuries this season as he already sat out a couple of games for BVB due to a muscular strain, which is why the team is facing a huge dilemma on whether they’ll rush him back or not.

With Haaland likely unavailable for this must-win game vs. Leipzig, look for Marco Reus to spearhead their attack once more. The veteran midfielder is their second-leading scorer with 12 goals and eight assists so far this term.

Domenico Tedesco doing wonders for RB Leipzig

Since replacing Jesse Marsch last December, RB Leipzig are on a roll under Domenico Tedesco and they’ll look to secure their Champions League berth for next season.

Other than being at fourth in the Bundesliga table, RB Leipzig are also through to the DFB-Pokal semi-finals and in the final eight of the UEFA Europa League.

But the honeymoon phase for Tedesco is coming to an end as they’ll be tested in these next few weeks, and it doesn’t help that they have a growing injury list just like BVB.

For this game, the Red Bulls are likely to be without Yussuf Poulsen and Amadou Haidara, while their backline will be compromised since Peter Gulacsi and Lukas Klostermann are doubtful to play.

With all of them sidelined, this means more responsibilities for Andre Silva, Christopher Nkunku, Dani Olmo, Willi Orban, and Josep Martinez, and it’ll be interesting to see how they will all respond to this challenge.

History

RB Leipzig won in their reverse fixture against Borussia Dortmund last November with a 2-1 scoreline as Christopher Nkunku and Yussuf Poulsen had one apiece while Marco Reus also had one for BVB.

That marked their first win against Borussia Dortmund since October 2017, which was also their only away win at Signal Iduna Park in five games (D1, L3), and now they’re planning to make it two in a row this weekend.

The Red Bulls won their first league matchup against BVB during the 2016/17 season with a 1-0 scoreline. But since then, they were unable to keep a clean sheet in their last 10 meetings – which is their longest run of conceding goals against a single opponent in German top-flight.

In the last 12 head-to-head encounters between these two sides, Borussia Dortmund hold the clear advantage with seven victories, while RB Leipzig have won thrice and drawn twice.

Furthermore, both are in similar form with two draws and three wins in their last five league fixtures.

Betting Tip

Borussia Dortmund have the slight advantage in the Bundesliga 2022 odds. The Yellow Wall are priced at 2.35 to win, but RB Leipzig are close at 2.70 and a draw is installed at 3.75 in the 1X2 market. Overall, this is a tough call on who will bring home all three points.

BVB and Leipzig love to score goals and neither have been really consistent at holding their own on the defencive end, which suggests that we should see a lot of goals from both sides.

 

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