Thriller on the cards at Signal Iduna Park
Two teams in the Bundesliga’s top five based off their last five league games meet at Signal Iduna Park on Valentine’s Day also known as Friday evening. These loving sides go into the encounter with another being at the back of their mind, in this case thankfully it is European competition. Lucien Favre’s BVB have the task of Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League’s last 16 next week and with the first leg of that tie being in front of the Yellow Wall it is crucial they are firing on all cylinders on that occasion. Frankfurt have a kinder task of taking on a somewhat depleted Red Bull Salzburg team, in the last 32 of the Europa League.
Utter chaos for BVB
From a neutral perspective Dortmund’s matches lately have been incredible spectacles; they have brought 39 goals in the last seven. That is an average of 5.57 strikers per match, with BVB scoring 24 of those net busters. The signing of Erling Braut Haland has caused real havoc for German defences, with the Norwegian banging in eight goals in his first 182 minutes in the jersey, that is a goal every 22.75 minutes from the 19-year-old. Astonishing.
They have however lost their last two coming into Friday’s outing which will be a test, going down 3-2 to relegation battling Werder Bremen in the DFB Pokal midweek before losing out to a brilliant Bayer Leverkusen comeback, 4-3 at the BayArena on Saturday.
Eintracht Frankfurt
The visitors have been similarly enterprising. In their last seven there have been 25 goals, 3.57 per game, however they have had better fortunes than Dortmund it must be said. Winning four of their last five in all competitions, making up for a slow start to the season to push themselves towards the European qualification conversation. Still a way to go though, seven points behind sixth placed Schalke.
They can attribute their recent success to the finishing of three men, attackers Andre Silva, Timothy Chandler and Filip Kostic who have equated to 11 of their last 13 goals. Kostic is their danger man if they are to take anything from Signal Iduna Park, the Serbian winger ran riot, contributing two goals and two assists in a resounding 5-0 win at home to Augsburg on Friday evening and will be looking for similar fortunes a week on. He has been involved in 13 goals in 20 Bundesliga appearances this campaign and will be a handful for a currently leaky Dortmund backline.
It will be interesting to see who has greater success between Kostic and Jadon Sancho. The England winger is having yet another sensational season with 25 goal involvements in 19 league matches, still only 19 akin to Haland. I would expect the end product to continue from both these players in this one, with the more defensively solid outfit coming out on top.
A mouth-watering affair for the neutral will not disappoint.
Borussia Dortmund – Eintracht Frankfurt Betting Tip
Both Teams to Score + Over 2.5 goals with bet365 at odds of 19/20.
Post bet chat Marcus's Tips:
Frankfurt had a stinker, only creating 0.03 xG and losing 4-0. Coming crashing down to earth following their 5-0 win last week.