Borussia Dortmund vs. Bochum preview: BVB targeting a third straight victory

Borussia Dortmund will attempt to claim a third consecutive win when they face Ruhr rivals Bochum in Sunday’s derby at Signal Iduna Park.

Borussia Dortmund

Dortmund are preparing to play their first home game of 2024 after beginning the year with two comfortable away victories. Edin Terzic’s side eased to a 3-0 win over Darmstadt, before they cruised to a 4-0 victory against Köln last weekend thanks to a Donyell Malen as well as goals from Niclas Fullkrug and Youssoufa Moukoko.

Despite claiming consecutive victories, Dortmund are currently sitting outside the top four in fifth position. However, they will move above fourth-placed RB Leipzig if they take at least a point from Sunday’s contest.

While they will looking to claim maximum points, Dortmund’s recent home form suggests that may be easier said than done. Die Schwarzgelben have won just one of their previous four home league games, conceding 10 goals during that period.

Although they have been held to 1-1 draws in their last two matches against Bochum, Dortmund have managed to avoid defeat in their last four competitive head-to-head meetings.

Team News

Julian Ryerson, Julien Duranville, Karim Adeyemi and Felix Nmecha are all ruled out through injury. Sebastien Haller is representing the Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Algeria’s Ramy Bensebaini remains unavailable despite the fact his country were recently eliminated in the group stage.

Meanwhile, Terzic has revealed that Gregor Kobel and Julian Brandt are both doubts due to illness.

Bochum

Thomas Letsch’s side have experienced a positive start to the calendar year, having taken four points from their first two matches of 2024. They returned from the winter break with a 1-1 draw against Werder Bremen, before they edged out Stuttgart in their most recent outing. Matu Bero’s striker proved enough to condemn die Schwaben to a 1-0 defeat and extend Bochum’s unbeaten home run to six league matches (W3, D3).

While they have enjoyed success on home turf, 14th-placed Bochum have struggled to replicate that sort of form on their travels, having won just one of their nine Bundesliga away games. They have failed to score in five of those nine away matches, while they have conceded a total of 24 league goals on the road this season – only Darmstadt have let in more away goals in the top flight.

After failing to win their last four head-to-head meetings without a victory, Bochum will be looking to beat Dortmund for the first time since they came from 3-2 down to win 4-3 in April 2022.

Team News

The visitors are unable to call upon the injured trio of Michael Esser, Keven Schlotterbeck and Mohammed Tolba, while Danilo Soares is a doubt for Sunday’s contest. Takuma Asano is currently on international duty, while Bernardo is suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards.

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