Fortuna are fourth in the table and the Werkself fifth. "Both teams have three points after the first matchday. So you can talk about a top match at least for tomorrow. And we're looking forward to it," said the Werkself head coach at the pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon.
With the 3-1 away win at Werder Bremen, the team promoted in 2018 and finished tenth last season made a statement on the first matchday and they raised one or two eyebrows for the new league campaign even with the departure of several key players in the summer. "The fact they won at Bremen was a bit of a surprise, above all because Bremen are quite a good team," said Bosz before adding: "That shows us once again that it's not easy in the Bundesliga and that we can’t underestimate any team – but we've never done that and we definitely won't do that with Düsseldorf."
Regardless of the Düsseldorf performance in Bremen, the 55-year-old Dutchman is well aware of Fortuna's strength at home last season. While the Werkself did win 2-1 at the MERKUR SPIEL Arena thanks to two goals from Kevin Volland, the team coached by old hand Friedhelm Funkel did collect an impressive 27 their total of 44 points on their own turf last term. "It won't be easy. We are away – against a team that was also able to gain confidence last weekend," warned Bosz. Knowing full well that the Werkself could establish a position in the top half of the table with a third win on the bounce. Also there is a possibility of picking up three points against Fortuna for the fifth time in succession.
He is hopeful his team have learned the lesson from the recent match against Paderborn (3-2). "I said straight after the match that we needed to improve," said Bosz. That is logical because the season has only just started and the routines are not yet fully developed. "But we're getting better week by week – both physically and on the pitch. We have to continue down that road," said the coach before adding: "We've trained really well this week. That gives us confidence for the game against Düsseldorf."
Bosz was also confident that he should have nearly a full squad to choose from for the clash in the state capital. Mitchell Weiser and Daley Sinkgraven, who were ruled out of the Paderborn game due to knocks and only trained on their own at the start of the week, have now been able to return to full training. That appears to mean that Joel Pohjanpalo is the only one to miss out on the return to his old stomping ground. The 24-year-old played for the then second division team between 2014 and 2016 – as did Jonathan Tah (2014/15) and new signing Kerem Demirbay (2015/16).
Match info
Venue: Merkur Spiel Arena (54,000 capacity)
Weather forecast: 29 degrees, sunny
Referee: Patrick Ittrich
Live TV broadcaster: Sky Sport
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