Borussia Dortmund will be looking to keep pace with Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga title race when they welcome FC Koln to Signal Iduna Park on Saturday afternoon.
With 10 games remaining, Dortmund occupy second place in the table – two points behind Bayern and five points clear of RB Leipzig, Union Berlin and SC Freiburg.
Focus on Saturday ⏭️ pic.twitter.com/Je6UKmaKBR— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) March 14, 2023
Focus on Saturday ⏭️ pic.twitter.com/Je6UKmaKBR
At the opposite end of the standings, Koln find themselves 12th – seven points outside the relegation zone and 23 points shy of Dortmund.
Borussia Dortmund head into Saturday’s clash on a nine-game unbeaten streak in the Bundesliga, having taken 25 points from a possible 27 since their last loss.
After securing eight consecutive wins between late January and early March, BVB were held to a 2-2 draw by arch-rivals Schalke 04 last weekend.
When you look at the bigger picture, Dortmund have won 16 of their 24 league outings this season, picking up one victory more than table-topping Bayern Munich.
Having netted over 1.5 goals in nine of their past 10 Bundesliga encounters, Borussia Dortmund look set to produce another high-scoring performance on Saturday.
On the flip side, FC Koln have failed to win any of their previous four league matches, taking a solitary point from a possible 12 since their last victory.
Worse still, the Billy Goats have failed to score in each of their past four games and have failed to find the back of the net in six of their previous seven.
It is also worth noting that Koln have managed to win just one of their last eight Bundesliga clashes, recording four draws and three defeats in the process.
Across the past five, 10, 15 and 20 games, only four teams have picked up more points than FC Koln, which highlights their recent struggles.
Head-to-head: FC Koln have only managed to win five of their last 31 meetings with Borussia Dortmund, suffering 17 defeats along the way.
To make matters worse for the Billy Goats, they have lost five of their previous nine matches against Dortmund, with BVB scoring over 2.5 goals on four occasions.
Team news: Dortmund midfielder Emre Can will miss Saturday’s clash due to suspension, while Julian Brandt, Karim Adeyemi and Youssoufa Moukoko are out injured.
FC Koln’s lengthy injury list contains Jan Thielmann, Kristian Pedersen, Luca Kilian, Mark Uth, Florian Dietz and Sebastian Andersson.
When you look at the contrasting form of these two sides, all the signs point towards a comfortable home win on Saturday.
Forebet predicts that Borussia Dortmund will claim a high-scoring victory over FC Koln, netting over 2.5 goals while keeping a clean sheet.