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Hoffenheim will hope to keep their top-four hopes alive when they face Borussia Dortmund at the PreZero Arena today.
Since grabbing a 4-2 victory over rock-bottom Heidenheim at the beginning of March, Hoffenheim has endured a winless streak of four consecutive games. During this rut, they fell to a thrashing 5-0 defeat to top-four challengers RB Leipzig, and that was followed by a 2-1 loss to Mainz. This run of results has significantly dented Die Kraichgauer’s chances of featuring in the Champions League next season.
With just five games to go in this campaign, Christian Ilzer’s men are five points behind fourth-placed Leipzig, but safely in a Conference League spot, as chasers Eintracht Frankfurt are trailing by nine.
Liverpool target Bazoumana Touré will look to impress in attack. Tim Lemperle and Fisnik Asllani are set to start behind the sole striker. Robin Hranáč and Ozan Kabak will feature as the central defenders.
Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund enter this match on the back of a 1-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in their last game. Die Werkself edged Niko Kovač’s men by a one-goal margin thanks to Robert Andrich’s 42nd-minute effort. Dortmund had numerous chances to equalise and potentially take the lead, but their attackers failed to capitalise on the opportunities. However, the defeat made negligible change to Die Borussen‘s league position as they are eight points safe in second place from third-placed Stuttgart.
Kovač will miss the likes of Yan Couto and Emre Can due to their respective injuries. Waldemar Anton, Nico Schlotterbeck and Ramy Bensebaini are set to feature in a back-three defence. Serhou Guirassy could miss the clash after limping out of training midweek.
Here are the predicted line-ups for the match between Hoffenheim and Borussia Dortmund
Hoffenheim: Baumann – Coufal, Hranáč, Kabak, Hajdari – Avdullahu – Kramarić, Burger – Lemperle, Asllani, Touré.
Borussia Dortmund: Kobel – Anton, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini – Ryerson, Bellingham, Sabitzer, Svensson – Beier, Silva, Brandt.
GGFN | Trambak Bhattacherjee