Borussia Dortmund travel to Wolfsburg as they try to continue their good run of form but they face a difficult game against Wolfsburg, who have begun to see things fall into place under Nico Kovač after a slow start.
Edin Terzic’s Borussia Dortmund find themselves three points off Bayern Munich after their 3-0 win against Bochum at the weekend. Dortmund started the game off very quickly with Youssoufa Moukoko opening the scoring with an unstoppable strike. Giovanni Reyna then doubled the lead four minutes later with a penalty. Then just before half-time, Moukoko scored again with a long rang effort after Manuel Riemann was far from his line. In the second-half, Dortmund saw the return of Marco Reus who had been out since the Revierderby victory against Schalke in September. With Moukoko’s brace, he became the youngest player to reach 10 goals in Bundesliga history at 17 and 350 days old.
Wolfsburg also won 3-0 at Mainz. Patrick Wimmer opened the scoring for Wolfsburg, his first for the club. In the second-half, Maximilian Arnold scored from a free kick to double Wolfsburg’s lead before Ridle Baku scored in the 84th minute to cap off the win. With this win, Wolfsburg are now unbeaten in seven games.
With the deadline approaching for Hansi Flick’s national team squad, both Moukoko and Arnold will want to continue their great form to be on the plane to Qatar. Moukoko is yet to make a senior appearance for the German national team but due to Timo Werner’s injury, it opens up a space for the 17-year-old. You can easily make an argument for both Nicklas Füllkrug and Moukoko being in Qatar as they both offer something that the current forwards in the national team do not.
Arnold has only made three appearances for the senior German national team, but his form of late can easily make him a back-up option for the likes of Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka. Arnold’s dead ball ability is another trait that not a lot of players possess and could be useful for the national team with the likelihood of Toni Kroos returning being low.
Last season, Dortmund won both games against a very poor Wolfsburg side. In the first meeting they won 3-1 in Lower Saxony after initially going a goal down. In the second meeting Dortmund trashed Wolfsburg 6-1 with Erling Haaland scoring twice, Tom Rothe also scored his first goal for Dortmund.
Predicted Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund Lineups:
Wolfsburg
Casteels – Baku, Bornauw, Van de Ven, Silva – Arnold – Wimmer, Nmecha, Gerhardt, Kaminski – Nmecha
Borussia Dortmund
Kobel – Süle, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro – Bellingham, Özcan – Reyna, Brandt, Malen – Moukoko
GGFN | Jack Meenan
