Borussia Dortmund vs Mönchengladbach Preview: Classic Encounter, Key Battle, Team News & More

Borussia Dortmund will look to extend their unbeaten run to six Bundesliga matches on Saturday when Borussia Mönchengladbach come to town.

Dortmund remain the only team in Europe's top five leagues who a yet to concede a goal this season, with Roman Bürki producing some heroics in their trip to Hamburg on Wednesday to keep that record alive.

Here's everything you need to know about Dortmund's clash with their Borussia-named rivals.

Classic Encounter

Former Bayern Munich manager Jupp Heynckes is taking centre stage for our classic encounter as we turn the clock back to the 1977/78 season.

Team News

With 38,000 fans packed inside Düsseldorf's Rheinstadion, Heynckes helped Mönchengladbach create Bundesliga history by scoring five goals in an incredible 12-0 victory for the Foals.

However, FC Köln's 5-0 victory over FC St. Pauli denied Mönchengladbach a sixth Bundesliga title in their history. Scoring five of his 287 goals for Borussia Mönchengladbach in their thumping of Dortmund, the homegrown striker saw teammates Carsten Nielsen and Karl Del'Haye notch a brace on the final day of the 1977/78 season. 

Herbert 'Hacki' Wimmer, Ewald Lienen and Christian Kulik also scored for Mönchengladbach in Düsseldorf, but the Foals' dozen goals were not enough to topple the Billy Goats at the summit of the Bundesliga table.

Key Battle

Lars Stindl vs Sokratis & Toprak

Foals captain Lars Stindl could play a vital part in Saturday's fixture. The 29-year-old will be one of the toughest, if not the toughest, forward the Dortmund backline have had to deal with since their Super Cup clash with Bayern Munich at the start of August.

Winning the Confederations Cup over the summer with Die Mannschaft, Stindl has scored just one goal so far this season (in a 2-2 draw with RB Leipzig). Having been involved in 27 goals across all competitions last season, the creative striker will be hungry to add to his tally for this campaign.

With strike partner Raffael notching a brace against Stuttgart in midweek, all eyes will be on the 32-year-old Brazilian to be the game changer for Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday. 

However, Stindl's ability to drop deep and dictate the pace of the game will pose a threat to Dortmund that they are yet to face so far in the Bundesliga this season.

Julian Weigl's return to the bench against Hamburg helps bring back the depth Peter Bosz has been missing in defensive midfield. The 22-year-old could also be joined by Mario Götze in the Dortmund squad, with Bosz confirming that the World Cup-winning midfielder, as well as Marc Bartra and André Schürrle, has returned to training.

Dortmund still have a brutal injury problem at left-back, with Marcel Schmelzer, Raphaël Guerreiro, and Jeremy Toljan missing, leaving Dan-Axel Zagadou as the man forced to plug the gap in defence.

Prediction

Borussia Mönchengladbach are suffering from their own injury problems, with summer signing Denis Zakaria the only recognised central midfielder still fit from the Foals' clash with Stuttgart.

Although Christoph Kramer could be available for Dieter Hecking, a nasty head injury picked up on Wednesday might grant Mickaël Cuisance a first Bundesliga start since his move from AS Nancy over the summer.

Potential Borussia Dortmund XI: Bürki, Piszczek, Sokratis, Toprak, Zagadou, Sahin, Dahoud, Castro, Yarmolenko, Pulisic, Aubameyang.

Potential Borussia Mönchengladbach XI: Sippel, Elvedi, Vestergaard, Ginter, Wendt, Zakaria, Cuisance, Herrmann, Hazard, Raffael, Stindl.

Although many will be expecting Borussia Dortmund to make it five wins out of six this season, Mönchengladbach are averaging more than a goal a game and they should notch another on Saturday.

Dortmund were often sloppy in giving away chances against Hamburg, showing the defensive frailties that they were able to avoid in their 5-0 victory over Köln.

The hosts currently have more points than Bayer Leverkusen, Mainz, Freiburg, Werder Bremen and Köln put together, with Die Schwarzgelben favourites to increase their points tally this season to 16.

Prediction: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach