Erling Haaland and Borussia Dortmund look to overcome their first setback of the season on Friday in hosting Hoffenheim after suffering a 2-1 loss against Freiburg.
Haaland has scored in four of his last seven Bundesliga outings, netting twice each time. Bookmaker William Hill has the odds at 2.70 for him to bag another brace.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: August 26th, 7:30 A.M. (EST)
A defeat at the Dreisamstadion ended a miserable week for Dortmund after they couldn’t match Bayern Munich in the German Super Cup. The team will now look to avoid their first three-game losing streak since 2013.
The season started in perfect fashion when Haaland produced a hat trick in a 3-0 Cup triumph over Wehen Wiesbaden and the new Bundesliga campaign was kicked off with a big 5-2 victory against Frankfurt.
Haaland had two goals and two assists against Frankfurt but was nullified by Bayern and couldn’t get anything going against Freiburg either with the team ending up getting on the scoresheet through an own goal.
There’s been plenty of speculation surrounding Haaland’s future, but the Norwegian phenomenon seems committed to staying at the club for another year and it promises to be a big season for the 21-year-old. He’s averaging a goal per game in his last 15 Bundesliga outings ahead of Friday’s matchup.
Dortmund’s attack suffered a blow in the summer when Jadon Sancho finally got his move to Manchester United, but the team is still full of offensive firepower and they’ve made a very exciting talent in Donyell Malen.
The Dutch international hasn’t yet registered any goal involvements in his first four appearances for the club, but he should be the perfect sidekick for Haaland complementing his strike partner’s power with his own pace and dribbling ability.
It’s going to be a tough day at the office for Hoffenheim defenders. Although the team has made a good start to the season and should have plenty of confidence ahead of the clash.
Hoffenheim got things started with a 4-0 drubbing of Augsburg and they played out a 2-2 draw with Union Berlin a week ago. Dating back to last season, Sebastian Hoeness’ team is unbeaten in nine consecutive league outings.
Hoeness made his coaching debut in the Bundesliga last season and it was a rocky road for most parts but things finally started to click in the end and an 11th-place finish was a good achievement for a side that had been lingering just above the relegation places for multiple years.
Despite Hoffenheim’s lack of success, they always seem to turn up against Dortmund having taken only one loss in the last seven meetings between the two. Dortmund’s last home win in the matchup came in 2017 when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Christian Pulisic were still around to help the team secure a 2-1 victory.
