Augsburg vs Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund’s genuine Bundesliga title pursuit takes them to the WWK Arena to meet season-long bottom-half strugglers Augsburg in the penultimate round.

After winning just once in their last seven Bundesliga matches (D3, L3), Augsburg need one point in the final two rounds to secure top-flight survival, even though it looked like they might not be in this position not long ago. Considering they’ve only lost once in eight home league outings in 2023 (W5, D2, L1), the hosts are justified to feel confident about their prospects against Dortmund. Adding to this sentiment, they’ve only lost one of their last four home league meetings with ‘Die Borussen’ (W2, D1), though they went down 4-3 in the reverse fixture at Singal Iduna Park. Another closely-fought encounter could be in store, given that five of Augsburg’s six Bundesliga home wins this calendar year have yielded an identical 1-0 scoreline.

On the other hand, Borussia Dortmund could be one step away from halting Bayern Munich’s decade-long reign in the Bundesliga following the Bavarians’ 3-1 home defeat to RB Leipzig yesterday. With one point separating the two sides, ‘Die Borussen’ could assume the Bundesliga summit with a win here and open a two-point gap ahead of the final weekend if they can build on back-to-back home wins by an aggregate score of 11-2. However, Edin Terzic’s men have massively underperformed on the road lately, going winless on their last six road trips in all competitions (D3, L3), conceding at least two goals five times in this run. As bizarre as it sounds, Dortmund are without a clean sheet in their last 18 matches against Augsburg, home and away, so their defensive frailties will be under scrutiny this weekend.