Borussia Dortmund vs Bochum

Borussia Dortmund will be looking to cement another runner-up Bundesliga finish when they encounter bottom-half Bochum at the Signal Iduna Park.

A 3-1 defeat at arch-rivals Bayern Munich last time out has officially ended Borussia Dortmund’s season, leaving them with nothing but a second-place finish to play for in the remainder of the 2021/22 campaign. But ‘Die Borussen’ could mathematically seal a runner-up finish with a win over a Bochum side they’ve not lost to in any of their last seven Bundesliga H2Hs (W4, D3). What’s more, Dortmund are unbeaten in 14 of their 15 previous Bundesliga home meetings with Bochum (W11, D3), including the last eight in a row (W6, D2), five of which saw them score 2+ goals. Marco Rose’s attackers should have another field day, based on their free-scoring home form this season. Erling Haaland and co have netted a league-high 47 Bundesliga home goals this term, bagging two or more in 13 of their 15 home league outings.

As for Bochum, a 2-0 home loss to relegation-battling Augsburg last time out has extended their winless league streak to three matches (D1, L2), derailing their hopes of a first top-half Bundesliga finish since 2006/07. However, ‘Die Unabsteigbaren’ are in position of a relative safety as they head into the final three matchdays with a healthy eight-point lead on 16th-placed Stuttgart. Yet, after failing to get on the scoresheet in their last three Bundesliga outings, Bochum face the prospect of firing blanks in four consecutive top-flight games for the first time since 2007. The away goals have been at a premium for Thomas Reis’ men this season, as they’ve bagged a meagry average of 0.73 goals per Bundesliga travel, scoring 2+ goals in just two of their 15 away league matches thus far.