1 FC Cologne
vs
Borussia Dortmund
Kick-off
19:30 GMT
02 February 2018
The big talking point in the last few days involving Dortmund has been the sale of their superstar striker, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. However, they must put this to the back of their minds as they return to business against Koln on Friday evening. Dortmund are 6th in the table whilst their upcoming opponents are rock bottom in 18th, seven points from safety. Both sides will be disappointing with how they have fared in the league so far.
In the recent meetings between Koln and Dortmund, it has been quite hard to split the two sides. In the last six fixtures, they have drawn on four occasions with just one of the four being goalless. However, in the most recent game back in September, Dortmund battered Koln 5-0 thanks to two goals from that man, Aubameyang. Koln last beat BVB just over two years ago at the Müngersdorfer Stadion so they can take some confidence from that win.
Another win for Koln will put them in a great place to move up the table and out of the relegation zone in the coming weeks. However, they have plenty of injury problems with Leonardo Bittencourt, Nikolas Nartey and Marcel Risse amongst the five injured players. Latest matches: 1 FC Cologne
27.01.2018
Bund
1 FC Cologne
FC Augsburg
1:1
D
20.01.2018
Bund
Hamburger SV
1 FC Cologne
0:2
W
14.01.2018
Bund
1 FC Cologne
Monchengladbach
2:1
W
06.01.2018
Club
Arminia Bielefeld
1 FC Cologne
0:1
W
06.01.2018
Club
1 FC Cologne
Hertha BSC
4:1
W
Dortmund need wins if they want to move into the top four places. They will be relying on Batshuayi to provide a cutting edge up front and he might make his debut on Friday. They have injury problems of their own: Andriy Yarmolenko, Marcel Schmelzer and Sebastian Rode are a few of the players who won’t feature. However, Marco Reus might return which will provide a huge boost. Latest matches: Borussia Dortmund
27.01.2018
Bund
Borussia Dortmund
SC Freiburg
2:2
D
19.01.2018
Bund
Hertha BSC
Borussia Dortmund
1:1
D
14.01.2018
Bund
Borussia Dortmund
VfL Wolfsburg
0:0
D
08.01.2018
Club
Borussia Dortmund
SV Zulte Waregem
3:2
W
06.01.2018
Club
Fortuna Dusseldorf
Borussia Dortmund
0:2
W
Earlier in the season, a Dortmund win would be the only realistic result but now, with Koln’s surge in form, it might not be as simple as that. At Koln’s home ground with their good run of results, a draw is probably the most likely but it could easily go either way. Dortmund will certainly be expecting to win but they will have to fight against a strong Koln storm.
02 February 2018 - 19:30 GMT
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