Frankfurt vs. Borussia Dortmund: How BVB Should Line Up in Bundesliga Game

Borussia Dortmund return to Bundesliga action this weekend with an away trip to the Eagles nest, as they take on Eintracht Frankfurt. 

Jurgen Klopp will be hoping for all three points, following two defeats on the spin at home and away in Europe, and some much-needed momentum at this point in the season. 

The former German champions looked far from keen when they went down to an average Arsenal side 2-0 in the Champions League this week, showcasing just how hard it is for their manager to get this team up for games either in the Bundesliga or abroad. 

Here's how we expect Klopp to set up his side for Saturday's league game:

Defence

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Following Wednesday's rather dismal affair, Klopp will turn to this Saturday's game with some much-expected trepidation regarding his side's ability to keep a clean sheet. 

The most notable exception to the defensive line is club captain Mats Hummels, who remains out injured. While his usual replacement Sokratis Papastathopoulos will also miss the game following a red-card suspension picked up before the international break. 

This now leaves Klopp with Neven Subotic, a perfectly capable central defender, alongside Matthias Ginter—not a perfectly capable central defender. 

Fortunately, Dortmund will be able to call upon Erik Durm, Marcel Schmelzer and Lukasz Piszczek to fill the two full-back positions on either wing. We expect Durm and the Polish international to start. 

Midfield

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If one thing was missing on Wednesday, as Arsenal walked to their comfortable win, it was the intensity and ferocious closing down that has made Dortmund so notorious over the past few seasons. 

The most notable reason for such absence was in midfield, where we saw the likes of Ilkay Gundogan simply walk through a game they should have been pressing. 

The German international is likely to start against Frankfurt, as Klopp desperately tries to drag him back to match fitness, alongside Sven Bender and Kevin Grosskreutz in a midfielder triangle with high hopes that the trio will snap out of their midseason daze. 

The Dortmund manager will also be able to call upon Sebastian Kehl and Milos Jojic, yet both should be expected to start on the bench in reserve. 

Attack

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With Marco Reus now out of action for the foreseeable future, Dortmund's midfield has taken a notable shift in how it attacks opposition defences. 

Without the boy wonder, Klopp has been left to rely on the consistent goalscoring of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and the not-so-regular form of Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The Armenian playmaker may be one of the most talented players at the club, but he certainly isn't showing it at the moment. 

We may well see Shinji Kagawa return to the starting side, following a bright stint against Arsenal, but Klopp is likely to keep Aubameyang out right to play a committed striker up top. 

That striker will either be Ciro Immobile or Adrian Ramos—two forwards who are desperate to tie down a regular spot in the side—yet Klopp is more likely to go with the latter, following Immobile's poor performance against Arsenal in the midweek clash. 

@Sbienkowski