Lucien Favre Confirms Marco Reus Has Overcome Ligament Strain & Could Start Against Hannover

Borussia Dortmund forward Marco Reus is in line to start his first match of the calendar year after overcoming a slight ligament strain which ruled him out of their narrow win over RB Leipzig last weekend.

The 28-year-old has arguably been the player of the season in Dortmund - if not in the Bundesliga - thanks to his 11 league goals and seven assists, with Lucien Favre's side currently sitting six points clear at the top of the table.

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Ahead of Borussia Dortmund's match against Hannover on Saturday, Favre confirmed that Reus had been training all week and is back in the fold for a place in the starting lineup.

"He trained all week. He is fine," Favre said in his pre-match press conference, which was captured by Ruhr Nachrichten.

Maximilian Philipp and Ömer Toprak are unlikely to feature against André Breitenreiter's relegation-threatened Hannover side, while defender Dan-Axel Zagadou is a confirmed absentee for the Black and Yellows.

January signing Leonardo Balerdi, who celebrates his 20th birthday on Saturday, will have to wait until next month before he can make his debut for Borussia Dortmund.

The former Boca Juniors star is away with Argentina at the South American Under-20 championships until the middle of February. Balerdi's side are currently second in Group B, with their only win so far coming against Uruguay on Thursday.

Borussia Dortmund will be confident that they can extend their lead at the top of the table to nine points - albeit temporarily as Bayern Munich host Stuttgart on Sunday - when Hannover travel to the Westfalenstadion.

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Favre's side failed to win the reverse fixture earlier this season, with his side even coming out second best in the possession statistics - which has happened just two other times during the course of the season so far.