Managerless Dortmund in the doldrums
The first gameweek of 2021 in the German Bundesliga pits managerless Borussia Dortmund against Wolfsburg at the Signal Iduna Park on Sunday afternoon. The hosts recently sacked head coach Lucien Favre, but their fortunes have not markedly improved since, and are currently suffering the 'disgrace' of having lost the last three on their own patch. The visitors have tasted defeat just once in the league all season, and although they have several players out of contention with COVID-19 symptoms, their greater organisation should see them take advantage of the lack of Yellow Wall. Read our preview here:
Erring on Erling
Der BVB have had to contend without star striker Erling Haaland in recent matches, and have suffered the consequences as a result of that over-reliance on the Norwegian hitman. The 20 year-old has been undergoing an intense recovery regimen in Qatar over the festive period, and will probably be risked by caretaker boss Edin Terzić in an attempt to leapfrog their opponents back into a Champions League spot. The versatile figure of Thorgan Hazard remains out, so Giovanni Reyna (son of former American international stalwart Claudio) will continue to play on the left of the attacking midfield trio. Marco Reus and Jadon Sancho make up the other two thirds of the support, but both have had distinctly underwhelming campaigns by their standards, especially in terms of contributing goals of their own. Elsewhere, goalkeeper Roman Bürki looks short of confidence, and has been poorly protected by the back four in front of him.
Baku Baku animal
Meanwhile, visiting head coach Oliver Glasner has had a more consistent season, where the main concern has been converting some of the draws into wins to start to open up a gap on Dortmund and the rest of the chasing pack in fourth position. The 4-5-1 shape ensures that whilst Die Wölfe can expect to be out of possession for the majority of the match, they should be hard for a less than coherent Dortmund to break down in between the lines. Maximilian Arnold could return in time for Sunday, but even without him, there is a good balance to the midfield five. Ridie Baku's defensive contributions down the right will be key to stopping the combination of attacking full-back Raphaël Guerreiro and Reyna. The 22 year-old's all-action displays have been one of Wolfsburg's brightest sparks in 2020/2021, and he will still need to get forward to help supply the towering figure of Wout Weghorst up top. Both sides possess a colossus in attack, and whilst the more experienced Dutchman cannot hope to match Haaland's goal output, he still has nine to his name in Germany's top tier thus far.
Edin for defeat
Starting Haaland is a risk Dortmund are willing to take, and whilst it's not difficult to understand why, it speaks of a deeper problem at the European giants. Not having a permanent person in charge disrupts any plans that were in place to augment the squad in the transfer window, and the focus should instead be on reinvigorating underperforming individuals for any new man. A win here would strengthen Terzić's own credentials for the gig on a permanent basis, but he'll need to make the defence less porous to achieve that. Wolfsburg are far more solid looking whilst naturally sacrificing some of the goal threat their rivals possess, but that ought to be enough against profligate opposition. betway are offering generous odds of 5.75 for an away win.
