Dortmund, Germany (SportsNetwork.com) – Borussia Dortmund is hopeful that this
is the weekend that the club’s fortunes in the Bundesliga turn around as
Jurgen Klopp’s men are prepared to host unbeaten Monchengladbach on Sunday.
Dortmund’s struggles in the Bundesliga this term are the story of the season
to this point with Klopp’s side having collected a paltry two wins from 10
games, plunging the side into 17th place.
Yet for all of Dortmund’s struggles domestically, the club has continued to
dominate in the Champions League, winning for the fourth time in as many
matches by downing Galatasaray, 4-1, to secure a place in the knockout round.
Having already fallen 17 points back of leaders Bayern Munich, Dortmund can
longer harbor any title ambitions, but the club still has plenty of time to
claw its way back into the top four.
In order for Dortmund to begin that process, however, the club must find a way
to win its first league match since Sept. 13 as Dortmund has gone seven games
without a victory.
Monchengladbach does not figure to make things easy on Dortmund with the club
sitting four points from the top of the league and one of the final two sides
that has yet to lose in league play this season.
The club has hardly put a foot wrong over its last six games in all
competitions, winning five and drawing one, which came in a 0-0 stalemate with
Bayern Munich.
Dortmund has gotten a handful of players back from injury recently, but Klopp
will still be without injured trio Mats Hummels, Nuri Sahin and Ji Dong-won.
Monchengladbach will be hoping to continue its run of success against Dortmund
after winning both games in the league between the two sides last term.
Bayern Munich secured a place in the Champions League knockout round in
midweek and the Bavarians will aim to maintain their place at the top if the
league with a win at Eintracht.
Wolfsburg is level on 20 points with Monchengladbach and hosts bottom-half
Hamburg after notching a 4-0 win over Stuttgart last weekend.
Mainz has lost two straight games after starting the season on an eight-game
unbeaten streak and the team attempts to get back into the win column at
fifth-place Bayer Leverkusen.
Werder Bremen hosts Stuttgart in a battle between two of the bottom four sides
in the league, Paderborn travels to Augsburg, Freiburg entertains Schalke and
Cologne squares off with Hoffenheim.
On Friday, Hannover claimed a 2-0 win at Hertha Berlin as Jimmy Briand opened
the scoring on the stroke of halftime for Hannover and Hiroshi Kiyotake added
a second goal 14 minutes from time.
