Borussia Dortmund manager Niko Kovac is expecting a challenging contest against Augsburg on Saturday when the Bavarian side come to Signal Iduna Park for their clash on matchday 26 in the Bundesliga.
After two winless games in the competition - a 2-2 draw with RB Leipzig followed by a title-hopes ending 3-2 loss to Bayern Munich - Die Borussen returned to winning ways with a 2-1 defeat of FC Koln last weekend.
With 55 points from 25 games, they remained eight clear of fifth-placed side as their Champions League ambitions received fresh boost. But Kovac says his side haven't achieved anything yet and wants to remained focused on sealing a top-four finish.
At a recent pre-match press conference, he said:
"“We haven't achieved anything yet. We have 55 points, which is two points fewer than at the end of last season. There are still 27 points up for grabs. To achieve our goals, i.e. to qualify for the Champions League, we still need to pick up a few more points.”"said the Croatian
Dortmund have their task cut out without a few key players for the clash as captain Emre Can, Ramy Bensebaini and Filippo Mane are all set to miss out. Can has been ruled out for the remained of the campaign with an ACL injury whereas Bensebaini will serve a one-game suspension for accumulation of yellow cards.
Carney Chukwuemeka completed two training sessions and is nearing a return although his availability will be ascertained closer to the game. Nico Schlotterbeck also returned to team training after training individually while outgoing Julian Brandt missed due to illness.
As for Augsburg, the side appeared to gather momentum in their campaign with three consecutive league wins before RB Leipzig inflicted them with a 2-1 loss. Yet, they remain the best side in terms of points collected after the winter break behind only Bayern Munich (25) and Borussia Dortmund (19) with 16 in 10 games.
Praising their steely defense, Kovac said facing them will be a challenge for his team.
"“It's a team that has stabilised, concedes very little, scores very few goals, is very compact and plays very intense and aggressive football. They are a team that will certainly challenge us.""added the Dortmund manager
In their first league meeting of the season, Dortmund came away with a narrow 1-0 win in Bavaria as Serhou Guirassy's sole strike in the 37th minute proved enough to down Augsburg, who had beaten the Black and Yellows home and away last season.