5 reasons Dortmund can beat Schalke

bundesliga.com has five reasons why the Ruhr region will be Black and Yellow on Matchday 9…

1) Emboldened Borussia

Dortmund fans were faced with a mild dilemma last Saturday when their 1-0 victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach opened the door for Schalke to move top of the Bundesliga table heading into the derby. Luckily for them, the Royal Blues missed their chance as they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at Hoffenheim on Sunday to leave them a point behind their great rivals.

Watch: Dortmund claim the Borussia spoils against Gladbach

With Schalke’s five-match unbeaten run snapped and Borussia now five without defeat in the Bundesliga themselves, there is a different atmosphere around Borsigplatz and on the streets of Dortmund. The gap going into the last derby was a record 42 points and it could be argued that BVB were complacent. Now while they are still ahead of the Royal Blues, you feel a one-point advantage will serve to sharpen their focus this time around.

2) Move the ball and finish

The Black-Yellows possess some one of the Bundesliga’s most feared attacking players in Marco Reus and Jadon Sancho. Thanks to such individual quality, Dortmund have scored the second-most amount of goals this season (20) after Bayern Munich (22). What’s so remarkable, however, is that 18 of those have come from open play, which is the most in the league! That again comes down to their clinical nature, with every sixth Dortmund attempt on goal finding the back of the net, and demonstrates just how difficult it can be to defend against BVB.

Watch: Assist king Sancho enjoying his football at Dortmund

3) Clicking up front

Yet there is much more to the Borussia attack than Reus and Sancho. New signing Thorgan Hazard is now beginning to assert himself and has provided an assist in each of his last four league outings, taking his total to a league-best five for the season (level with Sancho). With the Belgian and the English teenager occupying the flanks, Reus and striker Paco Alcacer in the centre have been reaping the rewards. Despite the latter missing the last two games, he is still Borussia’s top scorer alongside his captain with five goals, which is one more than Schalke’s most prolific player, Amine Harit.

4) Mats the man

It isn’t just an attacking trump card that Dortmund can play in the Revierderby. Centre-back Manuel Akanji currently boasts the best challenge-success rate in the league, with the Swiss defender coming out on top in 69 per cent of duels. And he has now been partnered with a player who knows how to keep Schalke at bay. Mats Hummels, who returned to the Signal Iduna Park over the summer from Bayern, has suffered just one defeat to the Royal Blues in his last 12 Bundesliga encounters, winning eight of those and drawing a further three. In addition, the 30-year-old has contributed to a clean sheet in five of those, including his last three visits to the Veltins-Arena.

Watch: Dortmund's top 5 Revierderby goals against Schalke

5) BVB narrowly ahead

Few derbies boast such a tight historical record, but Dortmund can just about claim the bragging rights in this local clash. The Black-Yellows have 33 victories to Schalke’s 32 in the Bundesliga era, and won the last time they rocked up in Gelsenkirchen as Thomas Delaney and Sancho secured a 2-1 win and ended Borussia’s five-year drought at their neighbours. Sancho’s goal made him the youngest Revierderby goalscorer in Bundesliga history but also ensured BVB could not be caught in the head-to-head last season. Now the pressure is on again if Dortmund are to retain their self-proclaimed title as the Ruhr region’s superpower.