RB Leipzig vs Borussia Dortmund 20/01/19

20 January 2019

The first Bundesliga derby in 2019 will see RB Leipzig welcome Borussia Dortmund to the Red Bull Arena looking to stretch a 2-game unbeaten home run against league leaders (W1, D1).

Far more comfortable playing in front of the home supporters, the Bulls have won seven of nine home clashes this term, playing out two draws in the process. Not only they are one of three unbeaten teams at home, but the Red Bulls have racked up a four-game winning run ahead of this encounter, scoring over 2.5 goals per match three times in that period. Only one team has allowed fewer goals at home than Leipzig (6) this campaign, with Ralf Rangnick’s men keeping a clean sheet five times in nine home clashes so far. However, the Bulls have gone from seven games without conceding a goal to three consecutive matches in which they’ve failed to keep a clean sheet.

On the other hand, the visitors come into this meeting after a vital 2-1 home win over Borussia Monchengladbach, but they need a win here to prevent Bayern Munich from further reducing the gap (6 points). A 2-1 defeat to Fortuna Dusseldorf was Dortmund’s first loss this campaign, and it has brought their five-game Bundesliga road winning run to an end. No team has conceded fewer goals on the road than BVB (7) this term although Lucien Favre’s team failed to keep a clean sheet in five of their eight road Bundesliga trips so far. Although the Yellow and Blacks already scored 44 goals (more than any other team in the German top tier), only 15 of those goals arrived away from home, with BVB scoring one goal or less in four road games this season.

Provisional line-up – RB Leipzig:

Gk: Gulacsi Defense: Halstenberger – Willi Orban – Klostermann – Konate Midfield: Laimer – Kampl – Sabitzer – Demme Attack: Werner – Yussuf Poulsen

Provisional line-up – Borussia Dortmund:

Gk: Burki Defense: Guerreiro – Toprak – Piszczek – Hakimi Midfield: Witsel – Delaney – Weigl Attack: Sancho – Bruun Larsen – Reus