Borussia has not lost a match since the beginning of the season, and they have played nine matches, and are the leaders of Bundesliga since the last round. On the other hand, Monaco has played ten matches and their effect is very bad because they only won once in the first round, so it is not surprising that they are in the relegation zone. Two seasons ago, Borussia and Monaco met in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and Monaco celebrated in both competitions.
Borussia is not always playing their best football, but this team still has no defeats and their effect in nine games played is seven wins and two draws. Both draws took place on the side, which means they have the perfect effect on their field. On Saturday, they celebrated for the first time in Bundesliga as guests and it was a great match.
Their opponent was the always unpleasant Bayer Leverkusen, and Borussia was losing with 2-0 after the first part, while they in the second part reached a triumph of 4-2 in another brilliant turn. They continued to score goals, while they also during the week came to a 7-0 triumph on their field against Nuremberg. They are now the leaders on the table, and Reus is in great shape, while their summer reinforcement P.Alcacer is playing better and better.
Probable lineups Borussia Dortmund: Burki – Hakimi, Akanji, Diallo, Schmelzer – Dahoud, Weigl – Pulisic, Reus – Philipp, P.Alcacer
While Borussia is playing more and fills the nets’ of their opponents, Monaco continues to stumble and they have already made eight games without a win, and they lost the last two lost without a goal. They only defeated Nantes in the first round as guests and then started a negative series that they did not manage to stop. All they did were three more draws, but against Lille, Toulouse and Nimes, teams of which they are objectively much better. They lost from Bordeaux and Marseille, which was somehow acceptable, as well as that defeat at the opening from Atletico in the Champions League, though they had the lead in that duel.
They were the weakest in the last two games and they were first mastered by Angers with 1-0 at home, with a very bad game of Monaco, which was repeated on Friday when they were defeated by St. Etienne with 2-0, thanks to goals scored in the finish of the first and the beginning of the second half. Coach Jardim has made a whole series of changes and he probably wanted to change everything but did not have so many options. Those changes did not help much, so we now expect Golovin, Chadli, Tielemans, Henrichs, Aholou and Grandsir on the field again.
Probable lineups AS Monaco: Benaglio – Sidibe, Glik, Jemerson, Henrichs – Aholou, Tielemans – Chadli, Golovin, Grandsir – Falcao
Borussia is in great shape and they are certainly the favourites in this match, however, Monaco does not have a bad team as it is suggested by their results and we believe that the guests can also score some goals in an open game.