Borussia Dortmund will be looking to bounce back from their midweek Champions League disappointment when they host Schalke 04 in the Revierderby on Saturday afternoon.
Lucien Favre's side were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night but cannot afford to dwell on the defeat as they prepare to resume Bundesliga action.
Match preview
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Saturday's clash at Signal Iduna Park will be played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus outbreak, meaning that the players will have to create the atmosphere on the field.
Dortmund's 2-0 defeat to PSG in the second leg of their last-16 Champions League clash on Wednesday night saw them exit the competition 3-2 on aggregate.
Favre's team have won each of their last four in the Bundesliga, though, including an impressive 2-1 victory away to Borussia Monchengladbach last weekend.
BVB are currently second in Germany's top flight, four points off leaders Bayern Munich. RB Leipzig in third are just five points off the summit, meanwhile, as the campaign prepares to enter its latter stages.
The reverse match earlier this season ended in a goalless draw, but Schalke actually recorded a 4-2 victory over Dortmund when the pair met in the corresponding clash during the 2018-19 campaign.
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Schalke might be the fresher of the two teams due to Dortmund's European involvement, but David Wagner's side will certainly enter the match in the poorer form.
Indeed, the Royal Blues are without a victory in their last six games in all competitions, losing three of their last four in the process, while they have not won in the Bundesliga since January 17.
They did pick up a point at home to Hoffenheim last weekend and remain sixth in the table but are now 10 points behind fifth-placed Bayer Leverkusen with not too much football left to play.
Schalke have only lost one of their last eight Bundesliga games against Dortmund, though, and will be determined to return to winning ways against their rivals this weekend.
Dortmund Bundesliga form: WLWWWW
Dortmund form (all competitions): WWWWWL
Schalke Bundesliga form: DDDLLD
Schalke form (all competitions): DDLLLD
Team News
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Dortmund are still without the services of Marco Reus and Thomas Delaney through injury, but the German side did not pick up any fresh problems against PSG.
Julian Brandt is pushing to return to the XI, potentially at the expense of Thorgan Hazard, but there are not expected to be too many changes from the side that started in Paris.
Indeed, Jadon Sancho and Erling Braut Haaland should again feature in the final third, while Emre Can is expected to start despite being sent off on Wednesday night.
As for Schalke, Wagner has a lengthy injury list to contend with; Omar Mascarell, Daniel Caligiuri, Benjamin Stambouli, Salif Sane and Ozan Kabak are all out, while Suat Serdar and Juan Miranda are both doubts.
Amine Harit could make the squad after recovering from illness, though, while Guido Burgstaller should again lead the line with support from Benito Raman and Rabbi Matondo.
Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Burki; Hummels, Zagadou, Piszczek; Guerreiro, Witsel, Can, Hakimi; Sancho, Haaland, Brandt
Schalke possible starting lineup:
Schubert; Kenny, Oczipka, Todibo, Nastasic, Becker; Raman, Schopf, McKennie, Matondo; Burgstaller
We say: Dortmund 2-0 Schalke
Dortmund's recent record against Schalke is surprisingly poor, but the visitors are not in good form at the moment, and we expect BVB to put a much-needed three points on the board here.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Borussia Dortmund win with a probability of 65.68%. A draw had a probability of 18.2% and a win for Schalke 04 had a probability of 16.14%.
The most likely scoreline for a Borussia Dortmund win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.56%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.58%) and 3-1 (7.64%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.98%), while for a Schalke 04 win it was 1-2 (4.45%). The actual scoreline of 4-0 was predicted with a 4.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Borussia Dortmund would win this match.
