Bundesliga: Borussia Aim to Cement a Top Four Place

Borussia Dortmund vs Eintracht Frankfurt

Fourth plays sixth at the Signal Iduna Stadium on Sunday when the Bundesliga match between Dortmund and Frankfurt takes its place as the top-flight contest of the weekend. 

BVB are in a battle with RB Leipzig for the fourth Champions League spot, and the SBOTOP odds say it’s an extremely close call with only one point separating the two giants.

But if Eintracht can spring a surprise on Sunday, not only will they do Red Bull a big favour, they could drag themselves back into the race, while BVB’s aim is to close the gap on third-placed Eintracht with a win.

With Bayer Leverkusen 10 points clear at the top with just nine games remaining, the title race could turn into a procession, but the battle for top four places is anything but.     

Talking Points

Sancho is making himself at home in Dortmund

Borussia head coach Edin Terzic might just have pulled a masterstroke in the January transfer window when he released Jadon Sancho from his Manchester United gloom to bring him back to Dortmund after a two-year absence.

The England man scored 38 goals in 104 appearances for Die Schwarzgelben to persuade the Red Devils to shell out for him in 2021 and now, after a slow start to his return, he has scored in back-to-back games and his form has certainly taken an upturn.

His goal to ease the Dortmund nerves in their Champions League win over PSV Eindhoven was Sancho at his best, as he threaded the ball through a defender’s legs and in off the post.

And when Marco Reus climbed off the bench to finish the job in a 3-1 aggregate win, Dortmund fans started to make plans for their first Champions League quarter-final in three years. 

Sancho made just three appearances for Manchester United in the first half of the campaign, and he has already played nine for Dortmund, scoring in the 2-1 win over Werder Bremen last week. The 23-year-old is clearly a confidence player, and as his form begins to click, opposition defences will have their work cut out.

He has had a familiar face from Manchester alongside him, as midfield ace Marcel Sabitzer, who was on loan at Old Trafford last term, made a permanent switch to the Signal Iduna Stadium in the summer. But Sabitzer will sit this one out after he was red carded in the win over Werder.  

Another player on our radar is Chelsea wing-back Ian Maatsen, who joined BVB on loan in January. The 22-year-old Netherlands U21 star was hugely impressive on loan at Burnley last season and, as an inverted winger when he joins the attack, he is a real menace for opposition full-backs.     

Eagles are riding their luck

Eintracht have just recorded back-to-back wins, and those Bundesliga 2024 results came at a good time for head coach Dino Toppmoller after his team had recently been dumped out of the Europa Conference League by Union Saint-Gilloise as part of a sequence of six games without a win.

Sometimes the luck runs against you when you are down, but the Eagles have had a helping hand over the past couple of weeks.

A 2-1 win over Heidenheim ended the winless run, and the first Frankfurt goal came from Heidenheim defender Benedikt Gimber, who put through his own net and, despite conceding possession and losing the shot count, the Eagles came through.

And they followed that up with a 3-1 victory over TSG Hoffenheim against nine men after John Brooks and Ozan Kabak had been sent off, and that after Brooks had given TSG an early lead.

With renewed confidence, the Eagles will pose a threat on Sunday, particularly in the form of forward Omar Marmoush, who has scored ten goals and six assists since his arrival in summer.

The Egyptian star will stretch the BVB backline but, at the other end of the pitch, skipper and keeper Kevin Trapp is sure to have a busy 100 minutes.        

History

With 30 victories to 11, BVB have had much the better of the head-to-heads, and they won this fixture 4-0 last season. When the two teams met in Frankfurt in October, Julian Brandt scored a late leveller for BVB in a 3-3 thriller.

There isn’t a lot to choose between the teams in terms of recent form with Dortmund winning three, drawing two, and losing one of the last six games, while the Eagles have won two, drawn three, and lost one. Both teams have been on the up over the last fortnight, but the Bundesliga 2024 betting odds point clearly towards a home win.        

Betting Tip

With Frankfurt at 4.28 and the draw at 3.90, the visitors are certainly in this game. However, they will need luck on their side and a big performance to silence the Yellow Wall.  

 

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