Next Saturday, 20th of December 2014, an agonizing Borussia Dortmund will measure forces with Werder Bremen at Weserstadion for round 17 of the Bundesliga, on a match that both sides need to win since they are currently struggling to leave the relegation zone’s pits.

Dortmund have definitely hit the bottom. The former European champions continued their poor streak of results at the Bundesliga after conceding a 2-2 home draw against Wolfsburg last Wednesday’s night. Dortmund got an early lead thanks to a goal by Aubameyang on the 8th minute of the match but after a row of missed chances, they ended up conceding the equalizer on Kevin de Bruyne’s free-kick that took Langerak by surprise. BVB experienced several difficulties to impose their game and, as usual, they allowed the opponents to have plenty more ball possession percentage, opting instead for quick counter-attacks that aren’t as “deadly” as they were, for instance, last season or two years ago.

Dortmund are currently third from bottom and they are below the relegation line, meaning that if the Bundesliga’s season ended today, they would be relegated to the German football second tier. Although it’s hard to imagine such thing, if Dortmund continue to fail to impose their game and to find a way to win their matches, they might very well end up by playing alongside some other once-great powerhouses of German football, such as Karlsruhe and Kaiserslautern, just to name a few.

Borussia Dortmund’s next match will be particularly difficult as they will go up against a team that is also desperate for wins and currently occupies the last place of the Bundesliga table. For that particular clash, Jürgen Klopp will still not be able to count on the services of Marco Reus and is yet to know if the Greek international Sokratis will recover in time for the match.

As for Werder Bremen, the four-times Bundesliga champions are now on the verge of collapse, with only three wins from sixteen matches and 38 goals conceded on those respective clashes. The new Bremen’s manager, the former Ukraine international Viktor Skrypnyk, who took the helm of the team last October, is still trying to find the harmony the team needs to walk through this complicated period they are currently experiencing.

The clash against Dortmund is a good opportunity for Bremen to return to wins after the heavy 4-1 defeat Borussia Moenchengladbach inflicted on them last Wednesday.

There aren’t any major favourites for next Saturday’s match, although by playing home, Bremen might enjoy from a slight favouritism.

Werder Bremen

Stats: W-1 L-3 D-1

Recent Form - LDLWL

Borussia Dortmund

Stats: W-1 L-2 D-2

Recent Form - DLDWL

Possible Line-ups

Werder Bremen (4-4-2 Diamond) - Wolf - Selassie - Galvez - Hajrovic - Garcia - Fritz - Kroos - Makiadi - Junuzovic - Bartels - Selke

Borussia Dortmund (4-2-3-1) - Weidenfeller - Durm - Hummels - Subotic - Schmelzer - Kehl - Gundogan - Mkhitaryan - Kagawa- Aubameyang - Immobile

Prediction

Werder Bremen 2 Borussia Dortmund 1