Preview: Borussia Dortmund vs Stuttgart | OneFootball

A new era begins for Borussia Dortmund as Niko Kovac will take charge of his first game as manager, with Stuttgart visiting Signal Iduna Park on Saturday.

Dortmund have endured a difficult season as they currently sit in 11th place with 29 points.

They were able to beat Heidenheim 2-1 last week and are now hoping to continue this positive momentum with their new manager.

Kovac has plenty of experience managing in the Bundesliga, having previously managed Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt.

There are still positive targets to aim for this season as Dortmund are just four points behind fourth place which is currently occupied by RB Leipzig.

Kovac will be looking to help improve Dortmund’s defensive solidity as they have not kept a clean sheet in their last 12 games.

Only three of their last six matches have home have resulted in wins however they are unbeaten at home in 11 games.

Stuttgart progressed to the semi-final of the DFB-Pokal on Tuesday which was a positive response to their loss last week in the Bundesliga against Borussia Monchengladbach.

Sebastian Hoeness’s side are currently in fifth place with 32 points and have a strong away record recently by winning four of their last five matches on the road.

A win on Saturday would see them go up to fourth place and put the pressure on Leipzig to beat St Pauli on Sunday.

Team News

Kovac will have most of his squad to pick from apart from centre-backs Nico Schlotterbeck and Niklas Sule due to suspension and injury.

New signing Carney Chukwuemeka started training with the team on Wednesday.

Sule partially returned to team training recently too.

Stuttgart will be without several players for this fixture which include defenders Dan-Axel Zagadou and Ameen Al Dakhil.

Enzo Millot is also ruled out as well as forwards El Bilal Toure and Justin Diehl.

GGFN | Matthew Gritton