Borussia Dortmund vs Werder Bremen
Signal Iduna Park is the venue as Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen go head-to-head in a tasty-looking Bundesliga showdown.
Despite offloading marquee striker Erling Haaland to Manchester City over the summer, last season’s Bundesliga runners-up Borussia Dortmund have looked unfazed by the superstar’s departure this term. After pulling off a narrow 1-0 home triumph over bitter rivals Bayer Leverkusen on the opening weekend, ‘Die Borussen’ picked themselves up from a 1-0 halftime deficit to beat Freiburg 3-1 on the road last time out. New boss Edin Terzic will feel confident about his team’s prospects here, with Dortmund finding the back of the net in their previous 20 Bundesliga clashes against Werder. Signs are ominous, though, as the last time Dortmund won both opening top-flight matches back in 2019/20, they lost their matchday-three encounter at the hands of newly-promoted Union Berlin.
In the meantime, Werder Bremen’s returning Bundesliga campaign has started with back-to-back 2-2 draws against Wolfsburg and Stuttgart, respectively. Interestingly, both games saw ‘Die Werderaner’ hit back beyond the 80th minute to avoid defeat. Yet, Werder’s back-to-back league draws at the beginning of the season have taken their winless Bundesliga run to 12 matches (D3, L9), their worst such streak in the club’s history. Their underwhelming top-flight form is likely to go on based on their early showings, with no side attempting fewer shots on goal than Werder (15) this term. But after troubling the scoresheet in their last seven top-flight visits to Dortmund, Ole Werner’s side will be confident about scoring here.