Our next opponents: BVB concerns for quartet

Position

"We made a real mess of it," said captain Marco Reus, without mincing his words, after the 3-1 defeat away to Union Berlin ahead of the international break, the first big surprise in the current Bundesliga campaign and the first serious setback for a Dortmund side with great ambitions. Whether or not it was a real mess: The defeat in the capital will not seriously affect the new Dortmund confidence. "We have targets we set ourselves ahead of the season," midfielder Axel Witsel (pictured above) said recently. "We know what we want." In the early part of next year they want to be right at the top after a nine-point lead over FC Bayern last term was not enough to unseat the record champions. Now they want to end the run of seven Bundesliga titles in succession for Bayern Munich and BVB sounded the clarion call before the start of the season – and also ventured into the transfer market. The current campaign started according to plan with a win in the DFB Cup and two victories in the league before the newly promoted club from Köpenick sprang a surprise on the Black and Yellows. The match against Bayer 04 now presents an opportunity to make amends – and also serves as a dress rehearsal. The famous FC Barcelona visit the Signal Iduna Park three days after the Werkself.

Personnel

BVB certainly made their mark in the last transfer window: Mats Hummels returned to Dortmund from the eternal rivals in Munich, and in Thorgan Hazard from Borussia Mönchengladbach and Nico Schulz from Hoffenheim two players have arrived who have long been considered the crème de la crème in their positions in the Bundesliga – as is the case with Julian Brandt. After five and a half years at Bayer 04, the highly talented midfielder sought a new challenge with Dortmund in the summer and on Saturday – just like Sven Bender, Kerem Demirbay and coach Peter Bosz – he will face his former club. Obviously, with that amount of quality, Borussia do not have to fear anybody. "We're better than last season," said Witsel. Not many people would dispute that with four potential key players coming in and only one regular from last season departing, in the shape of Abdou Diallo. In terms of the depth of the squad, BVB released a number of players at the end of the last transfer window. Maximilian Philipp left for Moscow, Marius Wolf joined Hertha Berlin in a late loan deal. And there will be no reunion with Bayer 04 at the weekend for Ömer Toprak as the former Werkself defender is now on loan at Werder Bremen.

Problems

At certain times, a number of weak points have been evident in the BVB defence early on in the season and they have not been on top of the their game particularly in the early part of matches. The result has been that Borussia Dortmund have gone behind in all three league games. Coach Lucien Favre now has to deal with two defenders coming back injured from international duty. Left back Nico Schulz suffered damage to his metatarsal ligament in his left foot in Germany's 4-2 defeat against Holland and central defender Manuel Akanji suffered similar damage to his left ankle. It's not definite that the two players will be unavailable for the game against the Werkself, "it will be tight," declared sporting director Michael Zorc. The same applies to new signing Hazard who is struggling with a rib injury. And Witsel is also not a definite after a muscle injury but the Belgian has recently made rapid progress and is now back on the training ground.

Potential

The fact that Hummels, one of the best German defenders made his way from Munich to Dortmund rather than the other way round, and that two outstanding players have been signed in Brandt and Hazard, who were also talked about going to other big clubs, clearly shows: Borussia Dortmund have become an absolute top club in recent years – both on a domestic and international level. There is enormous quality in the squad plus the potential to develop when you consider that players like Brandt (23), Dan-Axel Zagadou (20), Achraf Hakimi (20) and, above all, Jadon Sancho (19) can reasonably be expected to move up a level or two. Borussia have an excellent squad not only for this season but also for the next few years.

Prediction

Borussia are a bit stronger in comparison to last season and the team from Westphalia should certainly have something say in the race for the title. The chances of unseating FC Bayern, after seven title wins in succession, are probably as good as they have been since Dortmund last won the title in 2012. Reus talked about one possible stumbling block after defeat in Berlin: "I think we sometimes believe we just need to show our quality to win games. We'll have to stop that." If that happens then there is the likelihood of celebrations on Borsigplatz in the early summer of 2020.