Borussia Dortmund resume their Bundesliga season at home to Werder Bremen on Friday but are missing in some of their key players as the visitors sense an opportunity to inflict their first setback of the league campaign. Here are three things to watch at the Signal Iduna Park tomorrow:
1) Clash between injury plagued teams
Both Dortmund and Bremen are plagued with several injuries right now, forcing their managers to consider their starting lineups rather carefully.
For the BVB, Emre Can and Filippo Mane were already out, but Nico Schlotterbeck and Julian Ryerson returned from the international break with injuries too. Justin Lerma is also out.
That's a full-blown injury crisis that Niko Kovac is dealing with right now. But it also presents a stern test of his tactical acumen, making it interesting to see what tweaks he makes.
Bremen too have a few casualties, with as many as eight players currently out, including striker Justin Njinmah, who's nursing a thigh injury and left-back Moussa N'Diaye, who has a groin problem.
With so many key players unavailable in both camps, the match is likely to run on fumes with minimum attacking firepower on display on either side.
2) BVB's reunion with a former player
The match also throws up the exciting prospect of Dortmund facing their former attacker Niclas Fullkrug, who has joined Werder Bremen on loan from West Ham to mark his first return to Bundesliga since leaving the BVB in 2024.
He's also in top form right now, scoring in their last three league games in a row as Fullkrug is already proving to be a successful acquisition for them. The Germany international might now be relishing the prospect of facing his former side, aiming to extend his scoring record in the top-flight to four games.
3) Guirassy's 100% record against Bremen
Serhou Guirassy has scored only four goals in eight games against Werder Bremen, but here's the catch: the striker has been on target on every single occasion he's played them in Dortmund colors.
Since joining the club in 2024, Guirassy only missed his first match to the River Islanders in August that year. But since then, the Guinean has taken them on thrice and scored each time: once each in 2-2 draw of January 2025, 3-0 win of January 2026 and 2-0 win of May 2026.
With four goals to his name already this season, he's also coming off the back of scoring a match-winner against Kenya this week, which adds more wind to his sails.
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