Match Preview: Dortmund Travel to Mainz With Terrible Away Form

Today at 12:59 PM

Borussia Dortmund travel to Mainz tomorrow with two dark clouds looming over the team. The first is the team's injury record. Nuri Sahin was limited to just twelve senior players over the last two games. Due to his squad limitations, Sahin chose to deploy the same exact lineup in each game and make near-identical substitutions across both games. Eight of the twelve played 199 minutes, Beier played 187 minutes, Gittens played 163 minutes, Sabitzer played 121 minutes, and Malen came off the bench to feature in 45 minutes. Despite finding the back of the net in the dying minutes against Sturm Graz, the team looked exhausted. They now face off against a relatively healthy Mainz that had 6 days off.

The other and more alarming fact is that Borussia Dortmund have been dreadful away from home. Here is the Bundesliga table if you look only at home games:

Dortmund boast a perfect record with notable victories over Eintracht Frankfurt (3rd in the league) and RB Leipzig (2nd in the league). Now here is the Bundesliga table if you look at away form:

Zero wins and just one point. Only one team has fewer points than Borussia Dortmund and only one team has scored fewer goals. It is well understood that playing at home brings advantages but this stark difference is simply bizarre. If Borussia Dortmund want to challenge for anything this season, they have to reverse their away form and quickly. Tomorrow's game presents a chance to do just that.

Player to Watch: Robin Zentner

I haven't quite touched on Mainz so I will do so now. Bo Henriksen's squad came into this game with meager expectations and have played as expected. They are currently in 13th place with only two wins in nine games. Despite the modest results, they do have great talent in several areas of their squad. Nadiem Amiri is the creative metronome and will attempt to pull the strings from midfield. Jonathan Burkardt is a good poacher who notched braces in both of Mainz's wins. The thorn in Borussia Dortmund's side will be goalkeeper Robin Zentner. Zentner has the league's fourth highest save percentage and no keeper has made more saves in the Bundesliga this year. He is also coming off a man-of-the-match performance against Freiburg despite going down with a head injury. If Borussia Dortmund want to get their first away win, they'll have to beat Zentner.

Predicted Starting XI:

Sahin's men come limping in to tomorrow's match and there seems to be no reports of players returning from injury. Sahin has two options; he can keep the same lineup with the hope of taking 3 points before the international break or make several changes in the hopes of adding some energy to the squad. My prediction is the latter. I do not expect any any changes amongst the defense but I expect Campbell, Azhil, and Malen to feature in the starting lineup after all three came off the bench in the last two games.

Your Thoughts:

Do you think Dortmund will get their first away victory? Will injuries catch up to Dortmund? Does anyone else miss Dahoud?