Borussia Dortmund will be looking for their fifth Bundesliga victory in a row when they welcome rivals Schalke 04 to Signal Iduna Park for the Revierderby on Saturday afternoon.
The coronavirus outbreak has caused the league to be shut down for more than two months, but the action will return this weekend with a full set of fixtures in Germany's top flight.
Match preview
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The Bundesliga is the first major European league to resume amid the coronavirus pandemic and arguably the standout fixture this weekend will see Dortmund welcome Schalke in the Revierderby.
BVB will have to do without their incredibly vocal home support with the match being played behind closed doors, but a huge three points are still an offer for Lucien Favre's team.
Dortmund bowed out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage with a 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in their last fixture on March 11, but the German outfit had been in excellent league form before play was postponed due to the worldwide pandemic.
Indeed, Favre's side have won their last four against Eintracht Frankfurt, Werder Bremen, Freiburg and Borussia Monchengladbach to rise into second spot, just four points behind league leaders Bayern Munich.
Dortmund will have the chance to move to within one point of Bayern as the reigning champions are not in action until Sunday evening, when they take on Union Berlin.
BVB have only actually won one of their last eight Bundesliga matches against Schalke, though, and suffered a 4-2 defeat in the corresponding fixture during the 2018-19 campaign.
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Schalke, meanwhile, played out a 1-1 draw with Hoffenheim in their last Bundesliga fixture on May 7. David Wagner's side have not actually triumphed in the league since overcoming Gladbach on January 17, losing three and drawing four of their last seven matches in Germany's top flight.
The Royal Blues are still very much in contention for a European finish, though, as they occupy sixth position, one point clear of seventh-placed Wolfsburg, who are due to face Augsburg on Saturday.
Schalke have only actually lost six of their 25 league matches this season, which is a number only bettered by the top three RB Leipzig, Dortmund and Bayern, while as mentioned above, their recent record against BVB is strong.
Wagner's side have picked up 16 points from their 12 away games this season, which is a decent return, but Dortmund have the best home record in the Bundesliga during the 2019-20 campaign, collecting 30 points from 12 matches, winning nine times and remaining unbeaten in the process.
Dortmund Bundesliga form: WLWWWW
Dortmund form (all competitions): WWWWWL
Schalke Bundesliga form: DDDLLD
Schalke form (all competitions): DDLLLD
Team News
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Favre confirmed on Thursday that neither Axel Witsel nor Emre Can would be available for selection on Saturday, meaning that Julian Brandt and Thomas Delaney could line up in the middle of the park.
Dan-Axel Zagadou, Nico Schulz and Marco Reus will also be absent for the home side, but Jadon Sancho and Achraf Hakimi should overcome slight concerns to make the starting XI this weekend.
There are unlikely to be any surprises in the front three with Sancho, who continues to be linked with Manchester United, expected to be joined by Thorgan Hazard and Erling Braut Haaland.
As for Schalke, Omar Mascarell and Ozan Kabak will both be absent for the derby, while Benjamin Stambouli is a doubt, but Wagner otherwise has few concerns when it comes to injuries.
Fitness will obviously be taken into consideration when it comes to team selection, although there are not expected to be too many shocks in the away side's starting XI.
Suat Serdar has missed four of Schalke's last five league matches through injury, but the 23-year-old, who has scored seven times this season, should be fit to start in the middle of the park.
On-loan Everton defender Jonjoe Kenny should also feature for the visitors at right-back.
Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Burki; Piszczek, Hummels, Akanji; Hakimi, Brandt, Delaney, Guerreiro; Sancho, Haaland, Hazard
Schalke possible starting lineup:
Schubert; Kenny, Todibo, Nastasic, Oczipka; McKennie, Schopf, Serdar; Raman, Burgstaller, Harit
We say: Dortmund 2-0 Schalke
It is difficult to know what to expect from both sides considering what has happened over the last couple of months. The lack of fans inside the stadium is sure to have some sort of impact, but we still fancy Dortmund to continue their impressive run of form with a routine home victory against their rivals.
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 65.68%. A draw had a probability of 18.2% and a win for Schalke 04 had a probability of 16.14%.
The most likely scoreline for a Borussia Dortmund win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.56%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.58%) and 3-1 (7.64%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.98%), while for a Schalke 04 win it was 1-2 (4.45%). The actual scoreline of 4-0 was predicted with a 4.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Borussia Dortmund would win this match.
