Borussia Dortmund vs Schalke 04

Signal Iduna Park is the venue as Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 go head-to-head in the 99th Bundesliga edition of the famous Revierderby.

Commonly known as ‘the mother of all derbies’ in Germany, the Revierderby has historically been an evenly-contested fixture, with Dortmund’s tally of 36 Bundesliga wins beating Schalke’s record of 32 by a slim margin (D30). Edin Terzic’s men will hope to extend the gap and bounce back from a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat away to Manchester City in midweek Champions League action. A somewhat expected failure at the Etihad Stadium followed up an abysmal 3-0 league defeat at RB Leipzig that saw Dortmund fail to produce a single shot on target in a league game for the fourth time since 2004! Despite coming into this encounter as pre-match favourites, ‘Die Borussen’ can ill-afford to underestimate Schalke after losing back-to-back Bundesliga meetings with newly-promoted sides. Yet after scoring in 37 consecutive league outings at home, they may get complacent.

On the other hand, promoted Schalke scored on either side of halftime to beat Bochum 3-1 on home turf last weekend and put an underwhelming five-match winless Bundesliga start to bed (D3, L2). Since a 3-1 defeat at Cologne on the opening weekend, the ‘Royal Blues’ have racked up consecutive league draws on the road, both of which featured under 2.5 total goals. Don’t let Schalke’s two-game unbeaten away streak trick you into believing they stand a chance here. They have failed to win any of their last 31 Bundesliga fixtures on hostile turf en route to setting an unwanted club record. Winning here would see Schalke claim back-to-back Bundesliga wins for the first time since November 2019, so the motivation shouldn’t be lacking.