Mainz 05 vs Borussia Dortmund 14/12/19

14 December 2019

The Bundesliga’s (BL) worst defense takes on the third-best attack, as Mainz 05 welcome Borussia Dortmund to the Opel Arena.

Mainz’s two-game winning BL run was brought to a halt last weekend with a 2-1 away defeat to Augsburg. It was their sixth successive league match that has featured at least three goals and fourth straight that has seen both teams score. ‘Die Nullfünfer’ are the only side in Germany’s top-tier that has yet to play out a draw this term (W5, L9). Three of their five BL triumphs this season have come on home turf – two in the last three home matches. Notably, all but one of their six BL home matches have produced over 2.5 goals and witnessed both teams score. Achim Beierlorzer’s men face an uphill task here, as they’ve suffered three defeats in their last four top-flight home H2Hs with Dortmund, drawing a blank on two of those occasions (D1, L3).

Meanwhile, the visitors have stretched their winning run in all competitions to three straight games with a 2-1 home triumph over Slavia Praha in the Champions League. Curiously, all nine of Dortmund’s previous competitive matches have featured three or more goals, with six of them seeing both teams score. Lucien Favre’s men have endured all sorts of problems away from home recently, having failed to pick up a win in five BL road trips in a row (D3, L2) before pulling off a narrow 2-1 win over Hertha BSC. Four of those fixtures during that six-game sequence have produced over 3.5 goals and saw Dortmund concede at least two goals per match. Interestingly, Die Borussen won both of their top-flight H2Hs with Mainz last season via the same 2-1 scoreline.