Borussia Dortmund v Mönchengladbach Betting Tips [19 September 2020]

It's the battle of Borussia as Dortmund welcome Monchengladbach to the Signal Iduna Park on Saturday in what promises to be an entertaining, opening day encounter. Two of the top four from last season will collide having guaranteed Champions League football but the two, alongside the rest of the division, are still a long way off the pace set by Bundesliga and European Champions Bayern Munich. 

The home side fell away towards the end of the last campaign and finished 13 points behind Bayern in 2nd. Nonetheless, manager Lucien Favre remains at the helm despite the questions surrounding his future at the end of last season and he has brought in some new faces as he prepares to mount a challenge for the Meisterschale again. Thomas Meunier has been brought in to replace the outgoing Achraf Hakimi while Jude Bellingham opted for Dortmund ahead of a whole host of Europe's elite teams and 18-year-old Real Madrid starlet, Renier has joined the Black and Yellows on loan. The hosts were victorious in their first competitive fixture of the season as they thumped Duisburg 5-0 in the first round of the DFB-Pokal. Jadon Sancho was amongst the scorers and perhaps him staying on this season is a clear indication of Dortmund's ambitions as they held firm on their asking price to fend off interest from Manchester United for now. The Black and Yellows won six of their nine games upon returning to action without spectators in May and the limited number of fans in attendance will be eager to erase the memories of a 4-0 home defeat to Hoffenheim on the final day of last season with a win over 'Gladbach.  

Marco Rose and his team enjoyed a fine season last term securing a return to Champions League football and a seat at Europe's top table to dine amongst the continent's elite. Rose has added to his squad with Valentino Lazaro joining from Inter Milan, having spent the back end of last season at Newcastle, and Hannes Wolf from RB Leipzig, both on season-long loan deals. Gladbach stuttered as the season resumed back in May but found their feet and finished with three consecutive victories to finish 4th ahead of Bayer Leverkusen. They won eight of their 17 games on the road last term and decimated Oberneuland 8-0 away from home in the cup last weekend but failed to win away at any of the sides who placed above them last year including a defeat to Dortmund.  

This should be an intriguing affair at the Signal Iduna Park with Dortmund eager to throw down the gauntlet to Bayern once again. I won't be easy against a Gladbach side however, who are hoping to improve on last year but I'm tipping Dortmund to prevail.