Borussia Dortmund could confirm their qualification for next season's Champions League when they welcome Wolfsburg to Signal Iduna Park in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Both sides returned to winning ways last weekend after suffering winless streaks, with the hosts retaining a glimmer of hope in the title race, whilst the visitors pulled further away from danger at the other end of the table.
Match preview
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Dortmund put their heavy 4-1 defeat to RB Leipzig behind them when they visited relegation-threatened Stuttgart last Friday evening.
Despite initially being named as a substitute, Julian Brandt was the difference after replacing the injured Giovanni Reyna just six minutes into the contest.
The former Bayer Leverkusen man got his first goal within six minutes of his arrival after being set up by the unselfish Erling Braut Haaland, before sealing the three points midway through the second half.
The result was far from comfortable however, with Die Roten unfortunate not to take something from the game after missing a host of chances against BVB in the second 45.
Those three points briefly pulled Marco Rose's side to within six points of Bayern Munich at the summit ahead of their game against Augsburg a day later, and when the Bavarians looked to be heading towards a frustrating goalless draw, Dortmund appeared to have been given another lifeline in the title race.
However, Robert Lewandowski netted from the penalty spot inside the final 10 minutes to spare Bayern's blushes, and to leave Dortmund nine points behind once more heading into matchday 30 this weekend.
With the leaders not due to play until Sunday, Dortmund once again have the opportunity to temporarily close the gap, and were they to better their result this weekend, the Bundesliga title race could well be blown open ahead of Der Klassiker next Saturday.
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Meanwhile, Wolfsburg picked up only their second win in seven Bundesliga outings when they hammered Arminia Bielefeld 4-0 at the Volkswagen Arena last time out.
Three successive defeats prior to it had left Die Wolfe looking over their shoulders once again during their dismal season, but a much-improved showing and result has all but put those fears to bed.
Eight points separate Florian Kohfeldt's men from last weekend's opponents in the relegation playoff spot, so with only five games to play at the time of writing, it would take an almighty disaster for Wolfsburg to suffer a catastrophic drop out of the top flight.
As a result, the focus will be turning towards a positive finish to this poor campaign in order to head into the summer on a high note before looking to make a return to European football next season.
The recently-returned Lukas Nmecha will be key to their chances of some success over the final few games of the season, with the forward netting his first goals since returning from a broken ankle in the win over Bielefeld last week.
Maximilian Arnold and Max Kruse netted the other two goals shortly after half time, to provide Wolfsburg with a small amount of confidence as they prepare to face an opponent that they have failed to beat in their last 13 meetings, and lost to on seven successive occasions in recent years.
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Team News
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Dortmund will remain without a number of defensive options on Saturday, with Mats Hummels now joining Thomas Meunier, Mateu Morey, Felix Passlack, Marcel Schmelzer and Nico Schulz on the sidelines.
Emre Can is likely to be required at right-back again as a result, with Dan-Axel Zagadou and Marin Pongracic fighting to deputise for Hummels in the centre of defence.
Brandt will be thrust into the starting 11 following his match-winning impact off the bench against Stuttgart, with Reyna set to miss the rest of the season due to his latest issue in an injury-hit campaign.
Mahmoud Dahoud and Steffen Tigges are also ruled out, whilst Donyell Malen is labelled as a doubt due to a muscular problem.
As for the visitors, long-term-absentees Paulo Otavio, William and Micky van de Ven remain unavailable for the trip.
Luca Waldschmidt is a doubt with an ankle injury, whilst Renato Steffen could miss out once more due to a knock.
Following one of their best performances of the season last time out, Kohfeldt is unlikely to make any changes to his starting 11, meaning the versatile Yannick Gerhardt should keep his place at left wing-back ahead of first choice Jerome Roussillon, who returned to the bench against Bielefeld.
Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Kobel; Can, Akanji, Zagadou, Guerreiro; Bellingham, Witsel; Hazard, Reus, Brandt; Haaland
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Casteels; Lacroix, Bornauw, Brooks; Baku, Schlager, Arnold, Gerhardt; Wind, Kruse; L Nmecha
We say: Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Wolfsburg
Dortmund have been far from their best for a couple of months now, with their performances being unconvincing and Haaland struggling to get back amongst the goals following his return from injury.
However, BVB should have enough in them to see off a Wolfsburg side that remain poor despite a comprehensive result last time out, albeit against a far lower calibre of opposition to whom they will be facing on Saturday.
Matthew Tranter
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Borussia Dortmund win with a probability of 71.97%. A draw had a probability of 16.2% and a win for Wolfsburg had a probability of 11.81%.
The most likely scoreline for a Borussia Dortmund win was 2-0 with a probability of 9.98%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.35%) and 3-0 (8.43%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.38%), while for a Wolfsburg win it was 1-2 (3.46%). The actual scoreline of 6-1 was predicted with a 1.1% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Borussia Dortmund would win this match.
