Borussia Dortmund is hosting VfB Stuttgart at Signal Iduna Park in round 12 of the German Bundesliga. Borussia is still keeping up with Bayern, but with all the injuries they have, I’m not sure how long they can do that for. Stuttgart is a terrible defensive team, but they can create a decent number of chances, but the problem is they can score efficiently.
Borussia is just behind Bayern as the second-best offensive team in the league with 28 scored goals, but their defense is worse, and they have a lot of injuries. Starting with Haaland who is their best player, who is joined by Guerreiro, Dahoud, Can, and Reyna who are all starters for this club. Borussia was playing against Leipzig on the road just before the international break, and they have had 46% of ball possession in that game, 3 shots on goal, 6 corner kicks, 1 big chance created, and only 72% of the correct passes. This was easily one of the worst games yet this season for Borussia, and they deservedly lost 2-1. In the Champions League, Borussia is in 3rd place, but with a win against Sporting next week, they will be back to 2nd, and they will most likely advance to the next stage.
Stuttgart is on a 3-game losing streak, while they haven’t won any of their last 5 games. With only 10 points, Stuttgart is now in low 15th place, and that is dangerously close to the relegation zone. Of the 15 scored goals Stuttgart has this season, Mavropanos and Kempf have each scored 3, while Sosa added 3 assists. The injury list is still very long for Stuttgart, and for as long that is the case, Stuttgart will struggle. We can say that the next few games after this one are on the lighter side for Stuttgart, but that doesn’t mean they can count on points. Stuttgart was playing against Arminia in their last game before the break, and they have had more possession, 66%, 3 shots on goal, 8 corner kicks, 0 big chances created, and 81% of the correct passes. Despite creating some decent chances, Stuttgart couldn’t score a goal, but they conceded one. The final score was 0-1 in favor of Arminia. Stuttgart must wake up, fast, otherwise, their season will be one big struggle to avoid the relegation, and they are good enough to do that.
The trends are heavily on Dortmund’s side, but both teams are struggling right now, and honestly, I think this one could go either way. With Borussia playing in the Champions League next week, I’m not willing to stake my money on them, which is why I will take the goals in this one.