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With the title hopes long gone, Dortmund must pick up the pace if they want to at least finish on 2nd place at the end of the season. A game against Eintracht Braunschweig seems like the perfect opportunity for Jurgen Klopp`s men to get back to form.
Bundesliga newcomers Braunschweig were widely expected to finsh last in the standings, and so far they performed according to plan. The hosts are a hard-working team, decently organized, but they simply lack quality to resist at this level. Braunschweig is dead last in the table with 12 points, but they do have hope of reaching the relegation playoff spot, which is just 4 points away. However, the hosts need to step it up offensively, as they scored a pathetic 10 goals in the 18 rounds elapsed so far. Braunschweig got a solid draw at Frankfurt last week (0-0), after winning the last game of 2013 against Hoffenheim (1-0), so important points gained by the relegation battlers recently.
Dortmund is in wretched form right now and has fallen to the 4th spot in the standings, 4 points away from second placed Leverkusen. Jurgen Klopp has been cursed with a horrific injury crisis recently, as basically all of his regular defenders and their substitutes were injured at the same time. With this in mind, Dortmund`s form is understandable but still, the 2 points accumulated in the last 4 games are a disastrous tally. On top of that, the visitors have not kept a clean sheet since October! The restart of the Bundesliga saw Dortmund draw at home with Augsburg, 2-2. The good news however for the visitors is that they will get many players back from injury for this game, including star center-back Hummels, who is still a doubt but could well start the game.
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Team news and lineups.
Hummels is questionable for Borussia but has good chances to play. Blaszczykowski, Gundogan and Subotic are out. Braunschweig has serious problems before this game with no less than 7 players missing out trough injury: Caligiuri, Druppel, Perthel, Kruppke, Oehrl, Korte and Vrancic.
Eintracht Braunschweig: Davari – Kessel, Bicakcic, Dogan, Reichel – Theuerkauf – Bellarabi, Nielsen – Elabdellaoui, Boland – Ademi
Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller – Grosskreutz, Sokratis, Hummels, Schmelzer – Sahin, Bender – Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan, Reus – Lewandowski
Dortmund really needs to win this and I`m sure Jurgen Klopp knows the Braunschweig game is a chance his team simply can`t miss. After conceding tons of goals lately, Dortmund will finally be able to field a solid back-line and will surely try to keep a clean sheet here, there`s no doubt Klopp does not want to allow goals again and has worked with his team in that direction this week. The narrow 2-1 win they got against Braunschweig at home will make the visitors even more aware of the potential danger. With Braunschweig barely scoring once every two games, I feel there`s great value in picking Dortmund to win to nil here. I can`t see the hosts getting something against a motivated, relatively healthy and much, much better Borussia side. The visitors will surely score at least once or twice and with a little bit of luck they should be able to hold off a goal-shy Braunschweig side. My tip for this Bundesliga match is Dortmund to win to nil. Prediction: Eintracht Braunschweig – Borussia Dortmund 0-2.
Pick: Dortmund to win to nil
Odds: 2.30 @ William Hill
Stake: 7
Possible profit: 9.10
Event date: 31 January
