The Friday night fixture in the German Bundesliga features the clash between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund with both teams looking to further enhance their claims for a top four finish in the German top flight.
Following a recent 2-2 draw away from home at Stuttgart, Friday night’s hosts, Union Berlin, will return to the more familiar surroundings of their Stadion An der Alten Försterei where the hosts will be looking to end a current four-match sequence without a win in the domestic top flight.
Three draws with Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern Munich and Stuttgart haven’t been helped by a 3-1 loss in the local derby against rivals, Hertha Berlin, and it’s over a month since Union Berlin last registered a win on home turf (5-0 v Arminia Bielefeld) back in early November.
Union Berlin have actually lost just one of their last 10 matches at home in the Bundesliga but their previous exchanges against Borussia Dortmund have seen the hosts lose four of the five meetings between these two sides.
Onto Borussia Dortmund, and former coach, Lucien Favre, was shown the door after a particularly embarrassing and humiliating 5-1 loss at home to Stuttgart recently at their Signal-Iduna-Park, as they’d managed just one win from a five-match spell and included earlier defeats to Bayern Munich and Koln.
Dortmund had managed to collect just one win from this five-match decline which came in the shape of a 5-2 win away from home at Hertha Berlin and new coach, Edin Terzic, will be hoping that lightning can strike twice in the German capital for his side when they arrive for this Friday night encounter with Union Berlin.
Terzic has already overseen his first win as Dortmund coach with his new side recording a 2-1 win away from home at Werder Bremen which has enabled Borussia Dortmund to maintain their position in the top four of the Bundesliga.
It must be said though that Favre’s sacking appears to have been particularly harsh especially as Dortmund still possess a very reasonable looking away record in the German top flight of four wins, one draw and one defeat.
The bigger picture shows that the visitors have won 10 of their last 12 away from home and even though their recent form isn't that great, Dormund could make life difficult for the home side. Expect a thrilling clash, which will most likely end in a draw.