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Borussia Dortmund will entertain struggling bottom club VfB Stuttgart on Sunday at the Signal Iduna Park, hoping to bounce back from a disappointing week.
The Bundesliga heavyweights had a slow start in the UEFA Europa League this season, they lost to FC Krasnodar 1-0 during midweek and sit second in the table. Dortmund will have to be content with second place finish, if the Russian side wins their final group game against Qabala because Dortmund haven’t managed to score an away goal and Krasnodar are leading with a 2-1 aggregate over Dortmund.
VfB Stuttgart on the other hand, fresh from a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of FC Augsburg, which led to the sacking of their manager Alexander Zorniger. Stuttgart’s interim coach Jurgen Kramny, will be in charge of the match against Dortmund.
And as it seems, Kramny might have a tough time against Dortmund, as the Bundesliga giants have a great record against die schwbean, winning four of their last five encounters against Stuttgart.
But, Stuttgart fans have to something to savour as their team lead the all-time head to head record, with Stuttgart winning 40 of 99 matches, whilst Dortmund winning 35 of them in all competitions.
Kick-Off and Live Telecast
Channel: N/A (No Telecast)
Live Stream: Starsports.com
Date and Time: Sunday, 29th November 2015 – 16.30 CET (Sunday, 29th November 2015 – 20.00 IST)
Venue: Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund
Team News
VfB Stuttgart
Interim coach Jurgen Kramny will face a long injury list before heading into this clash. Stuttgart will miss former Dortmund keeper Mitch Langerak, he hasn’t recovered yet. Current No.1 Przemyslaw Tyton is expected to be fit, after a catching a stomach bug, which kept him out in their last Bundesliga match against FC Augsburg.
Midfielder Robbie Kruse will probably miss the clash, he suffered a setback and eventually wasn’t included in the team roster. Serey Die, Martin Harnik and Daniel Ginzczek, all will miss the trip to Dortmund game due to long term injuries.
Borussia Dortmund
Thomas Tuchel doesn’t have that much of an injury crisis. Midfielder Nuri Sahin and Left Back Erik Durm are the two candidates, who will miss the weekend clash. Marco Reus, Shinji Kagawa and Sokratis Papastathopoulos, all are expected to feature in this game after being rested during midweek.
Form
VfB Stuttgart
Conceding far too many goals haven’t been a new story for the swabeans this season, Alexander Zorniger’s all attacking approach often left them open at the back. Since the start of October, Stuttgart have won three of their seven matches all competitions, which is currently their best phase of the season.
Scoring 10 goals but conceding 14 goals during that period. Stuttgart have lost two back to back games with a 4-0 scoreline, for the first time in the club’s history.
Last 5 Games: L – L – W – W – L (Last Match: VfB Stuttgart 0:4 FC Augsburg)
Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund, on the other hand, facing their period under new coach Thomas Tuchel right now, they are winless in their last two competitive fixtures. Dortmund lost to Hamburger SV in Matchday 13 and then followed it with another loss at the hands of the Russian outfit FC Krasnodar in the UEFA Europa League.
Last 5 Games: L – L – W – W – W (Last Match: FC Krasnodar 1:0 Borussia Dortmund)
Match facts
BVB’s 36 goals scored from 13 league games this season is their second-best goals haul at this stage of the season. They only bagged more across the opening 13 matchdays in their first ever top-flight campaign in 1963/64 (41).
Stuttgart have conceded 31 goals from their 13 BL games and have therefore set an unwanted club record. No other side in the top five European leagues has conceded as many goals as VfB.
A 4-0 defeat to Bayern was followed by a 4-0 defeat to FC Augsburg last weekend, the first time in their history that the Swabians have suffered successive defeats by that scoreline.
Dortmund have scored 45 goals at an average of over four in their 11 home games under Thomas Tuchel this season.
Tuchel started his coaching career in the Stuttgart youth set-up in 2000.
Stuttgart have had more shots on goal this season than Dortmund (217 compared to 211), with only Bayern having more efforts on goal.
Dortmund have scored more than twice as many goals as Stuttgart (36 compared to 17).
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored in Dortmund’s last seven home games stretching back to last season.
Possible Line-ups
Dortmund: Bürki – Ginter, Sokratis, Hummels, Schmelzer – Weigl, Gündogan, Mkhitaryan, Kagawa, Castro – Aubameyang
Stuttgart: Tyton – Klein, Baumgartl, Sunjic, Insua – Die – Schwaab, Gentner – Didavi – Maxim, Werner
Jurgen Kramny will look to use the pace of effective attacking players like Daniel Didavi, Timo Werner and Filip Kostic while playing on the counter, to get the advantage of Dortmund’s recent defensive frailties, while on the other hand Thomas Tuchel will be asking his side to give a response after a disappointing week.
Borussia Dortmund will look to pile up the pressure on leaders Bayern and at the same time keep hold of the 2nd position with Wolfsburg just around the neck while Stuttgart will seek at least a point to help them getting out from the drop zone.
Stuttgart can’t be counted off, but it is ever so hard for die schwabean to snatch a victory against a Dortmund side, coveting for a much-needed win and Jurgen Kramny’s Stuttgart side will have to be the unwilling victim of their projected onslaught this weekend.
Predicted Score : Borussia Dortmund 2:1 VfB Stuttgart
