Dortmundvs.Frankfurt

The hosts were beaten finalists in last season's Champions League, and both teams will be aiming to finish in the Champions League places this season.

Match preview

Nuri Sahin takes charge of his first league game for Dortmund on Saturday, after the former Turkish international signed a three-year deal in June to replace the outgoing Edin Terzic.

Prior to this, the 35-year-old had a two-year spell at Turkish side Antalyaspor where his style of play was reminiscent of his former coach at Dortmund, Jurgen Klopp.

The hosts come into this game on the back of a 4-1 away win against Phonix Lubeck in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, with goals from Waldemar Anton, Emre Can, Julian Brandt and Julien Duranville.

It feels like this could be a transitional season on and off the pitch for Dortmund with club legends Marco Reus and Mats Hummels having left after years of great service, but BVB have recruited well this summer as Sahin looks to rebuild the team in his image.

Adaptable with their formation, Dortmund already had a wealth of attacking talent in their ranks and have only added to this with incomings including forwards Maximilian Beier and Serhou Guirassy, who scored a mighty 44 goals between each other last season.

Dino Toppmoller is entering his second year at Frankfurt having finished 16 points behind Saturday's opponents last season, and this weekend's fixture could provide us with a glimpse into how far Frankfurt have progressed under their head coach.

Frankfurt's style of play revolves around relentless pressing off the ball and controlling the game when in possession, where intelligent positional play helps to create passing lanes and numerical advantages across the pitch.

While Frankfurt did sell their star centre-back Willian Pacho to Paris Saint-Germain this summer, the incoming duo of Robin Koch and Arthur Theate have eased the blow as the duo compete to partner Brazilian defender Tuta in the heart of Frankfurt's defence.

Die Adler come into the Dortmund game on the back of a 4-1 win away at Eintracht Braunschweig in the DFB-Pokal first round, courtesy of a Hugo Ekitike brace and a goal apiece from Fares Chaibi and Igor Matanovic.

Frankfurt have also been prolific in front of goal in pre-season having scored 25 goals from their five games, and with a number of young and dynamic forwards in their ranks we can expect Toppmoller's side to take this form into their league campaign.

Borussia Dortmund form:

Eintracht Frankfurt form:

Team News

Dortmund fans will have to wait a little longer for the debut of Guirassy (knee), who is sidelined until September.

Sahin otherwise has a fully-fit team to pick from, where the likes of Julien Duranville, Sebastien Haller, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Youssoufa Moukoko are all fringe options should Sahin look to rotate from last Monday's cup victory.

Toppmoller has a few injury concerns ahead of the trip to Dortmund, with Mehdi Loune and Marcel Wenig (both cruciate) injured, and Harpreet Ghotra (broken leg) unavailable.

New signings Koch and Ekitike are likely to be handed a start for Frankfurt, with a number of their other summer signings likely to be starting on the bench.

Their bench is likely to include loanees Theate and Rasmus Kristensen, and young attacking midfielder Can Uzun, who signed from FC Nuremberg this summer.

Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:

Kobel; Couto, Anton, Sule, Schlotterbeck; Can, Sabitzer, Gross; Adeyemi, Brandt, Beier

Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:

Trapp; Nissen, Koch, Tuta, Nkounkou; Skhiri, Larsson; Chaibi, Gotze, Marmoush; Ekitike

We say: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt

When two teams with similar styles collide they sometimes cancel each other out, but with the attacking quality on display here we can expect an entertaining game.

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