VfL Bochum is hosting Borussia Dortmund at Vonovia Rhurstaion I round 15 of the German Bundesliga. Bochum has had some solid results as of late, their form is decent, and they are now in 10th place. Borussia will be playing in the Europa League after being knocked out of the Champions League, but that is the competition they can actually win.
Bochum has won 7 of their last 9 games, and thanks to that streak they are now far away from the relegation zone. In their last 2 games, Bochum has scored 5 goals while conceding 3 goals, and they have won both of those games. In their last game, Bochum was playing against Augsburg on the road, and they have had 47% of ball possession, 6 shots on goal, 6 corner kicks, 6 big chances created, and 72% of the correct passes. This was a very fun game to watch, and with 3 scored goals in the first half, Bochum has won this game 2-3. Potter is the leading goalscorer for Bochum with 5 scored goals. The injury list is quite long for Bochum, and that will decrease their depth, which they will certainly need in this game against Borussia Dortmund.
Borussia ended in 3rd place in their group in the Champions League, but only because of the worse goal differential than Sporting. In Bundesliga, Borussia is still in 2nd place, but they are now 4 points behind Bayern thanks to that loss from last week. Offensively, Borussia is a fantastic team, especially when Haaland is in the lineup, which he will be in this game. Haaland has scored 11 goals for Borussia Dortmund so far, while Bellingham added 5 assists. Same as Bochum, Borussia has a lot of injuries, but the difference is they have a lot more depth and quality on the bench. Reyna, Moukoko, Akanji, Burki, and Malen are all on the injury list as of right now. I would assume now that they are out of the Champions League, Borussia won’t feel as much pressure as they did, and they can now focus on Bundesliga and catching up to Bayern, or at least to stay on their tail. Earlier this week against Besiktas, Borussia was dominant and dangerous, they have scored 5 goals and kept a clean sheet, and I think they will use the same approach in this game as well.
The trends are heavily on Borussia’s side in this matchup, but Bochum is in great form right now. Bochum hasn’t lost any of their last 6 home games while winning 5 of those 6 games. Borussia is the better team here, but I think they will concede at least 1 goal because their defense sucks.