It was always going to be difficult to separate these teams. Group F of the UEFA Champions League, the Group of Death, is finely poised after three matchdays. Paris Saint-Germain could have separated themselves from the pack but their 4-1 defeat at Newcastle suggests they always have a calamitous performance in them.
On Matchday four, there will be a run-back of the Matchday three fixtures, which means Newcastle will now travel to Signal Iduna Park to take on Dortmund.
Widely expected to go through after trouncing PSG 4-1, Newcastle surprisingly lost to Dortmund at home, with the air of jubilance going out of their campaign.
Dortmund, meanwhile, revived theirs after failing to win on the first two matchdays.
Revenge will concentrate Newcastle’s minds and Dortmund will be reeling from their Der Klassiker defeat to Bayern Munich. This is the game to watch on matchday three.
Here’s the match preview, buildup, team news, and more as Newcastle travel to Dortmund aiming to settle the score for the reverse fixture!
Dortmund vs Newcastle preview
Dortmund come into the game having been brought back down to earth in the league. The Yellow and Blacks were one of three undefeated teams in the league going into the fixture against Bayern Munich.
However, as has been the case with many Der Klassikers in the past, they got wiped away by Bayern who barely broke a sweat.
Not only did it halt their momentum in the league, but their Champions League pedigree also came into question despite beating Newcastle away from home on matchday two.
The Magpies, meanwhile, have walked the opposite trajectory. After just one win in their opening six league games, they haven’t tasted defeat in their last five, pushing themselves up to sixth place in the league.
Furthermore, Dortmund are responsible for Newcastle not taking control of the Group of Death so Eddie Howe’s men will be extremely focused to inflict a blow on them when they look like they’re struggling.
Dortmund vs Newcastle predicted lineups
Dortmund team news
Dortmund come into this game with no new injuries after the Bayern Munich game. Emre Can, Mateu Morey, Julien Duranville, and Antonios Papadopoulos remain out of action with their respective injuries.
Of these names, the status of Emre Can is clouded a bit but it still looks unlikely that he will play a part here.
There would be only minor changes from the team started against Bayern, with Edin Terzic looking to create a bigger threat on the counter-attack against possession-based Newcastle.
With that in mind, Karim Adeyemi could replace Julian Brandt from the Der Klassiker team. Remy Bensabaini might also be considered a safer option than Julian Ryerson, who didn’t have the best of times against the Bavarians.
Other changes could see Sebastien Haller take the place of Nicolas Fullkrug as a more traditional target man option for wide forwards to run in behind.
Predicted Dortmund XI: Kobel, Wolf, Schlotterbeck, Hummels, Bensebaini, Ozcan, Sabitzer, Reus, Adeyemi, Malen, Haller
Newcastle team news
Newcastle suffered an injury blow in the past midweek against United when Matt Targett had to come off with what looked like a serious hamstring injury. It added to their increasing list of injury absentees which is now 10 players strong, or weak, if taken literally.
Jacob Murphy returned to action against Arsenal only to re-injure his shoulder and had to be subbed off again.
Key players like Alexander Isak, Sven Botman, Dan Burn, Harvey Barnes, and Javier Manquillo will remain missing as Howe tries to fit in square pegs in round holes at some places to field a competitive team.
Predicted Newcastle XI: Pope, Trippier, Lascelles, Schar, Livramento, Guimaraes, Longstaff, Joelinton, Almiron, Wilson, Gordon
Dortmund vs Newcastle prediction
While revenge is a great motivator, and Newcastle did upset the odds to beat Arsenal on the weekend, their players are bound to run out of energy at some point.
Dan Burn and Jacob Murphy fell against Arsenal and the depth outside first-team looks extremely light at the moment, as it would be with any team that has injury numbers in double figures.
Therefore, with it being a home game, it might have come at the perfect time fr Dortmund to shake off their league embarrassment at Bayern’s hands.
A win here would put them in control of their own destiny in the Group of Death, an extremely good place to be in.
Expect Signal Iduna Park to be at its roaring best as Dortmund try to put right the weekend’s result while also completing a double against Howe’s men.
FootTheBall predicts Dortmund 2-1 Newcastle.