Werder Bremen host Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga on Tuesday, with the visitors starting life without ex-manager Lucien Favre after the 63-year-old was sacked following the embarrassing 5-1 defeat at home to Stuttgart on Saturday.
Bremen, meanwhile, have lost three consecutive matches, failing to win any of their last eight league games.
Match preview
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Indeed, Florian Kohfeldt's side never looked like troubling RB Leipzig on Saturday, falling to a one-sided 2-0 loss at last season's Champions League semi-finalists.
A Marcel Sabitzer penalty was backed up by Dani Olmo's strike to give Julian Nagelsmann's side a commanding lead heading into the break, with Bremen having just two shots on target across the 90 minutes.
Having slipped to 13th in the table, Kohfeldt's side are at risk of being embroiled in another relegation battle having narrowly survived via a playoff with second-tier outfit Heidenheim last season.
Arminia Bielefeld currently lie four points behind Bremen in the relegation playoff place, so Kohfeldt will be imploring his side to pick up a positive result against a Dortmund side without a manager to put more distance between themselves and danger.
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Things have turned sour very quickly at Dortmund, meanwhile, who have acted swiftly by sacking Favre after the dismal home defeat to Stuttgart, with assistant manager Edin Terzic taking over as interim manager until the end of the season.
Having taken only one point from their previous two matches against FC Koln and Eintracht Frankfurt, Favre was under significant pressure to gain a positive result against the in-form Bundesliga newboys.
Despite Giovanni Reyna levelling proceedings heading into the half-time interval after Silas Wamangituka's penalty had broken the deadlock, Stuttgart ran riot in the second half with four goals effectively leaving Favre's position untenable.
With top goalscorer Erling Braut Haaland injured until after the winter break with a hamstring injury, though, things are unlikely to instantly get better for Dortmund, who face the prospect of yet another season without being in the title picture come the final stages of the season.
Werder Bremen Bundesliga form: DDDLLL
Borussia Dortmund Bundesliga form: WLWLDL
Borussia Dortmund form (all competitions): WLDDWL
Team News
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Bremen are likely to remain without three strikers in the shape of Niclas Fullkrug, Milot Rashica and David Selke for the visit of Dortmund, with muscle injuries keeping the trio out.
Joshua Sargent will continue to lead the line, with the young American forward hoping for more service than he has received in recent matches.
Dortmund, meanwhile, will not have the services of Haaland until the New Year, with Thomas Meunier and Thorgan Hazard unavailable for the trip to Bremen with muscle issues.
Thomas Delaney has a back problem, with Marcel Schmelzer still recovering from knee surgery.
It will certainly be interesting to see if Terzic makes any tweaks to the side, with some of the fringe players in the squad likely to up the ante in training in an attempt to force their way into the 38-year-old's plans.
Werder Bremen possible starting lineup:
Pavlenka; Gross, Toprak, Friedl; Gebre Selassie, Mohwald, Eggestein, Augustinsson; Bittencourt, Schmidt; Sargent
Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Burki; Zagadou, Hummels, Akanji; Morey, Can, Witsel, Guerreiro; Sancho, Reyna; Reus
We say: Werder Bremen 1-1 Borussia Dortmund
Bremen recently drew five matches in a row by the scoreline of 1-1, so with neither side approaching this game with any confidence whatsoever, it would be little surprise to see both managers settle for a point.
Kohfeldt will be hoping to stifle a Dortmund side which lacks a focal point with Haaland, with Sargent's pace in transition likely to be a common threat throughout the game.
