Schwaben welcome Nordrhein-Westfalen neighbours Borussia Dortmund

Schwaben welcome Nordrhein-Westfalen neighbours Borussia Dortmund to Neckarstadion Saturday afternoon. The unbeaten domestic form under Markus Babbel coupled with stumbling form at the top of the table has VfB within seven points of leader Hertha BSC.

BVB is riding a wave of mediocrity in the Rückrunde, yet to win since the start but equally pleased with its ability to play to draws. At ninth in the table, they are only three points behind VfB but showing little signs of making a run for the Europa League spot. While they possess a controlling defending unit, the attack has been rarely been spotted and it wont get any easier as they are without Jakub Błaszczykowski and Sebastian Kehl and have doubts over Tamás Hajnal, Mohamed Zidan and Kevin-Prince Boateng.

VfB's injury situation hasn't changed much with only Ludovic Magnin added to the absentee list of Arthur Boka, Matthieu Delpierre and Yildiray Bastürk.

Markus Babbel said of the opposition:

"We want a win to continue our plight to take one of the places in the higher regions of the table. It is important that we maintain a high tempo right from the out-set but also be patient. We'll have to keep our opponents on their toes and tire them out. We certainly won't get a thousand chances so we'll have to use the few we can create. Our target is to go in front and make use of our strength on the break."