Bundesliga preview: Can Borussia Dortmund bounce back and punish Paderborn?

The title chasers come up against rock-bottom this weekend

Borussia Dortmund’s title hopes took a hit against Bayern Munich this week but they’ll be hoping to make amends against relegation-threatened Paderborn.

After a thrilling round of midweek fixtures, the Bundesliga is back with a bang and another schedule of matches this weekend.

Bayern created some breathing space in their quest to land their eighth consecutive title but they face a potential banana skin in the shape of third-bottom Fortuna Dusseldorf.

Meanwhile, Borussia Monchengladbach were handed a lifeline and they’ll be looking to take advantage against Union Berlin.

Ahead of the action, we’ve taken a look at three key fixtures to keep an eye on.

Paderborn v Borussia Dortmund (Sunday, 17:00)

Rewind a few days and Dortmund were in dreamland, four points behind Bayern with a chance to beat their rivals and put some pressure on the league leaders. But a Joshua Kimmich wonder goal condemned them to a 1-0 defeat and a long road back to salvage their title hopes.

Luckily, they come up against rock-bottom Paderborn who are without a win in their last nine outings. Dortmund are the clear favourites at 1/3, with underdogs Paderborn priced at 8/1 to win at home. The draw is 21/5.

Tuesday’s defeat was the first time Dortmund had failed to score in the league since their last meeting with Bayern in November, which coincidentally preceded a 3-3 draw with Paderborn. A repeat of that scoreline is priced at 55/1, while the usually free-scoring visitors are 3/1 to win with over 4.5 goals.

Raphael Guerreiro has scored three times in the two matches since the league restarted and the Portuguese is 6/1 to open the scoring here.

Bayern Munich v Fortuna Dusseldorf (Saturday, 17:30)

The table-toppers also face a struggling side, with Dusseldorf currently just five points clear of the drop zone. There aren’t many harder games in Europe than a trip to Bayern but the visitors will be buoyed by their midweek win over Schalke and they’re 20/1 to triumph here.

Bayern thrashed Dusseldorf 4-0 in the reverse fixture and they’re just 7/1 to repeat that feat on Saturday, while they’re 21/5 to score over 5.5 goals.

Robert Lewandowski is enjoying another remarkable season and the Poland international is priced at 23/10 to score in both halves or 7/2 to net a hat-trick.

Borussia Monchengladbach v Union Berlin (Sunday, 14:30)

Monchengladbach have impressed during this campaign but they risked coming unstuck in the race for the top four as they lost 3-1 at home to Bayer Leverkusen last weekend, who temporarily leapfrogged them in the table.

But they’ve been granted a reprieve following Leverkusen’s thrashing at home to Wolfsburg on Tuesday. Union Berlin are loitering in midtable and the hosts are priced at 8/15 to win.

Leverkusen are only behind on goal difference and they could pile the pressure on with a win on Friday, meaning Monchengladbach may need goals to stay on track. They’re currently 17/10 to score over 2.5 goals, while a home win and over 4.5 goals is 5s.

View the latest football odds.

All odds and markets correct as of date of publication.