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Preview to the Dortmund game

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The game against Dortmund will be Werder's first of three matches in eight days (Photo: nordphoto).

First Team

Thursday, 13.12.2018 / 16:39

We’re getting to the final stretch before the winter break. Werder’s game away to Dortmund this Saturday evening is the first of three games in a week before the winter break. However, Florian Kohfeldt believes the games will be a “positive strain, with the underlying feeling of wanted to get points.” Dortmund are the only unbeaten team left in the Bundesliga this season, but Werder have “come up with a few approaches to cause Dortmund problems,” according to Kohfeldt. Werder midfielder Nuri Sahin and Dortmund man Thomas Delaney are set to face their former clubs.

Previous meetings: Werder went unbeaten against Dortmund last season. In the away game at Signal-Iduna Park, the Green-Whites took all three points. Maximilian Eggestein put Werder into the lead with a left-footed strike in the 26th minute before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang equalised just after half time. Theodor Gebre Selassie then put the Green-Whites back in front to secure all three points. In the return fixture, it was all about Jiri Pavlenka. Marco Reus put Dortmund in front after 19 minutes before Thomas Delaney popped up with the equaliser shortly before the break. Werder mostly focussed on defending in the second half, and some crucial saves from Pavlas meant that the Green-Whites earned a share of the spoils.

Niklas Moisander is available for selection again following his red card (Photo: nordphoto).

The boss on the game: It’s a difficult task to face a team that are as of yet unbeaten in the league. Above all, Dortmund’s attack is extremely dangerous. “Dortmund are very good on the counter, they go forward with five or six players. On the game as a whole, their positioning is well-coordinated, and there’s excellent decision-making when they have to up the tempo,” said Kohfeldt. He added that the defence “press very well and set up the counter well. The head coach also predicted that there would be periods where the team “should have the grit to combine well and take our chances at the right moments.”

Squad news: Niklas Moisander is available for selection again after serving his suspension against Düsseldorf last time out. Johannes Eggestein is ill and will miss the game, but he returned to training on Thursday. Milos Veljkovic is still out injured, but “there’s hope that he’ll be available for selection next Wednesday or Saturday,” according to Kohfeldt.

Jiri Pavlenka will be coming up against the best attack in the Bundesliga on Saturday (Photo: nph).

The opponents: Werder will be taking on the current table-toppers in the Bundesliga. Lucien Favre’s team are currently unbeaten and have 36 points on the board. Dortmund have been playing good attacking football this season, and have a good mix of both youth and experience. They also have former Werder midfielder Thomas Delaney on their books, who scored in last weekend’s Revierderby against Schalke. Another danger is Paco Alcacer, who has ten goals so far this season. The Spanish striker is most dangerous from the bench, and is currently averaging a goal every 36 minutes. BVB have also been performing well in the Champions League this season. The side beat Monaco 2-0 on Tuesday to win the group and advance to the last 16 of the competition.

Head-to-head: Dortmund have a slight edge over Werder, having won 42 of the sides’ 100 meetings, compared with the Green-Whites’ 41 victories. There have been 17 draws. Werder have scored 165 goals against Dortmund, only having scored more against Stuttgart (177). In tomorrow’s fixture, there has been an average of 3.24 goals per game.

The officials: Guido Winkmann will take charge of the game, with Christian Bandurski and Arno Blos running the lines. The fourth official is René Rohde, and the video assistants are Robert Hartmann and Sven Waschitzki.