Borussia Dortmund suffered a blow to their European hopes as they played out a goalless draw with Hamburg at Imtech Arena, but the Millionaires will be eager to return to winning ways at the earliest opportunity. Their next opponents FC Koln boosted their survival chances by beating Eintracht and now hope to increase the advantage over their relegation rivals.

Back on track

Borussia were under tremendous pressure having slipped to Bundesliga rock bottom shortly after the winter break ended, but it is now clear that a morale-boosting win was all that Jurgen Klopp’s charges needed to turn things around. The impressive 3-0 away triumph over Freiburg acted as a major boost to the players’ confidence and they have since played great football, defeating Mainz, Stuttgart and Schalke as well. Borussia’s excellent run of results ended as they shared spoils with Hamburg on the road, but that will only make the team more motivated to see off Koln at Signal-Iduna Park. While they did produced an under-par showing at Imtech Arena, the Millionaires were creating chances and scoring goals for fun in previous six matches, so chances are they will be back to their best when facing struggling FC Koln. Having scored seven goals while creating a lot more chances to score in their previous two home matches, Borussia are rightly considered odds on favourites and I fully expect them to record another comfortable win at Signal-Iduna Park.

Kevin Kampl could replace Shinji Kagawa after impressing against Hamburg, but Lukasz Pisczcek, Nuri Sahin and Kevin Grosskreutz remain sidelined.

Invaluable win over Eintracht

The three-time Bundesliga champions have been bouncing back and forth between Germany’s top two divisions in recent years and they returned to the top tier by lifting the Bundesliga 2 title last season. FC Koln managed to stay above the danger zone throughout the league campaign, but the recent poor run of results threatened to ruin their plans. Following the away triumph over struggling Hamburg in the first match of 2015, Koln recorded three home draws, while losing all three away fixtures. But, just as they slipped in the danger zone, the Billy Goats showed improvement to defeat Eintracht and now sit five points above the bottom three. Their poor away form could prove to be a problem when facing one of Germany’s strongest sides, while important defender Kevin Wimmer is going to be sorely missed. And despite winning back some of the lost confidence with a convincing win over Eintracht, I seriously doubt FC Koln will be able to match star-studded Borussia Dortmund, who have been thoroughly impressive at home of late.

Yannick Gerhardt and Kevin Wimmer miss out through injury and suspension respectively, but Adam Matuszczyk and Pawel Olkowski return.

Verdict

Having seriously raised their form of late, Borussia Dortmund can be trusted to extend the promising home run and they should win this game with few goals to spare. FC Koln have largely struggled on the travels of late and their poor streak is highly unlikely to end at Signal-Iduna Park.

Top pick: Dortmund/Dortmund   1.95 (19/20) @ TitanBet

Alternative pick 1: Dortmund -1.5 AH   2.08 (27/25) @ bet365

Alternative pick 2: Reus to score anytime   2.12 (28/25) @ 888sport