Two sides with underwhelming seasons so far in the Bundesliga will meet this Wednesday night at the MEWA Arena as Mainz in the bottom half play hosts to a Borussia Dortmund team still chasing a spot in the top four of the division.
Once again, it has been another poor season so far for Dortmund. The club did manage to chase Bayern Munich down to the last four games last season, but in 2023, the Black and Yellow now sit seven points behind them already after 16 games.
💬 Bo Svensson: "We have posed a threat to several strong teams already this season, including Leipzig and Frankfurt. We want to do the same against Dortmund."#Mainz05 #M05BVB pic.twitter.com/e9X8ZG2TZl— Mainz 05 English (@Mainz05en) January 24, 2023
💬 Bo Svensson: "We have posed a threat to several strong teams already this season, including Leipzig and Frankfurt. We want to do the same against Dortmund."#Mainz05 #M05BVB pic.twitter.com/e9X8ZG2TZl
This record has seen Dortmund win nine games, which is just one less than that of the league leaders Bayern. On the other hand, by drawing just once it does mean BVB have lost six times which is the same as Mainz down in 12th.
Dortmund have also scored just 29 goals this season, which is much less than they had this time last year because of the transfer of Erling Haaland to Manchester City.
Dortmund played out a thriller with Augsburg last time out and found themselves at 2-2 with them at half time. Jude Bellingham put on another clinic that day after also scoring a sensational goal in the 29th minute of the game.
Nico Schlotterbeck scored just before half time, as Augsburg scored twice within the last five minutes of the first 45.
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens got on the scoresheet that day towards the end too, as Giovanni Reyna scored a rare goal in what was one of the goals of the weekend across European football.
Stunningly, Dortmund had 27 shots towards goal that day against Augsburg and had 10 of those hit the target.
The Signal Iduna Park faithful now see their side one point behind RB Leipzig in fifth and two points behind Eintracht Frankfurt, Union Berlin and Freiburg, who all sit in the top four.
This shows how close the Black and Yellow are to getting back into the Champions League spots, but it also means they are in need of dropped points elsewhere.
As for Mainz, they are down in 12th after a 1-1 draw with Stuttgart. They are sitting quite healthily above the relegation zone, however.
It should be a routine win for Dortmund in this one based on their form so far. On the other hand, they struggle to keep clean sheets this season and Forebet predicts a win for them here and for the game to see over 2.5 goals.