Borussia Dortmund will aim to extend their winning run in the Bundesliga to seven games when they face Hoffenheim at the PreZero Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Second-placed Dortmund are one of three clubs on 43 points at the summit of the Bundesliga table, alongside Bayern Munich and Union Berlin.
At the opposite end of the standings, Hoffenheim find themselves in 15th place – two points clear of the automatic relegation spots and 24 points behind Dortmund.
Hoffenheim can have no complaints about their current position, however, as they have only managed to win five of their 21 league games this season.
Not only have Hoffenheim lost each of their last four Bundesliga outings, but they have also lost eight of their previous nine.
To make matters worse, Hoffenheim have failed to win any of their past 11 league matches – recording two draws and nine defeats in the process.
Pellegrino Matarzzo replaced Andre Breitenreiter in the PreZero Arena hot seat earlier this month, but the new manager has yet to taste victory.
By contrast, Borussia Dortmund have dealt solely in victories since returning from the World Cup break – notching eight consecutive wins in all competitions.
In addition to the six Bundesliga wins, Dortmund beat Bochum in the DFB-Pokal before defeating Chelsea in the Champions League last week.
It is also worth noting that BVB have won nine of their previous 11 league matches – scoring over 2.5 goals on five occasions in that time.
Having netted a total of 19 goals across their six-game winning streak in the Bundesliga – averaging 3.2 goals per game – Dortmund will be confident of sealing another high-scoring victory this weekend.
Head-to-head: Borussia Dortmund claim a 1-0 victory over Hoffenheim in the reverse fixture back in September, meaning BVB have won four of the last five meetings.
Given that Hoffenheim have only managed to win three of their past 20 matches against Dortmund in all competitions, the hosts will struggle to pick up a positive result this time around.
Team news: Hoffenheim’s lengthy injury list features Kevin Vogt, Kasper Dolberg, Robert Skov, Jacob Brun Larsen and Grischa Promel.
Dortmund have injury problems of their own, with Karim Adeyemi, Julien Duranville, Youssoufa Moukoko, Abdoulaye Kamara and Mateu Morey set to miss Saturday’s clash.
While Dortmund have won each of their last eight games in all competitions, Hoffenheim have failed to win any of their previous 12.
For that reason, Forebet predicts that in-form Borussia Dortmund will crush struggling Hoffenheim, with the visitors scoring over 2.5 goals in the process.