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Dortmund 'on the right track' ahead of Leipzig clash, says Kovac

Borussia Dortmund are aiming to keep pressure on Bayern Munich when they face RB Leipzig by extending their winning streak to seven games.

Niko Kovac believes Borussia Dortmund are "on the right track" and insisted his team will be at 100% when they face RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga.

Dortmund are currently second in the top flight, sitting six points behind Bayern Munich, though that gap could stretch to nine with the leaders playing earlier on Saturday.

Kovac's side are on a six-game winning streak in the Bundesliga and unbeaten in 15 league outings in the competition in total as they have made up the gap on Bayern.

Having made up a lot of ground on Vincent Kompany's team, Dortmund are high on confidence, and Kovac wants to continue building on that.

"We're in good form at the moment; everyone can see that. We want to take this momentum with us to Leipzig and, of course, we want to get the three points," Kovac said.

"We're entering the final third of the season, which is crunch time. There's a lot at stake in the Bundesliga because many teams want to get into the Champions League, and some teams don't want to be relegated.

"The team is developing very positively. We're on the right track. The next game is the most important one, and that's Leipzig on Saturday."

Dortmund also come into this game on the back of a 2-0 win over Atalanta in the first leg of their Champions League play-off on Tuesday.

But unlike their visitors, Leipzig do not have European football to focus on as well, giving them longer to recover and prepare between matches.

Leipzig have won only one of their last five matches in all competitions, however, and have slipped down to fifth in the Bundesliga table, 11 points behind Dortmund, but Kovac refused to underestimate them.

"Leipzig have a very good team with a lot of potential," Kovac added. "They showed against Bayern, both in the return leg and in the cup, that they were close.

"We are not underestimating them despite their recent results. They can prepare every little detail, they have the necessary freshness, and they also have a lot of fit players. That's why we'll have to give 100% there too."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

RB Leipzig – Maarten Vandevoordt

Leipzig are the only team in the current Bundesliga campaign not to have conceded a goal in the opening 15 minutes of matches, while overall, they have conceded the joint- second fewest first-half goals this term (10, level with Bayern).

Peter Gulacsi has played a big part in that, but with him now set for a long injury lay-off after going off against Wolfsburg, Maarten Vandevoordt will be stepping into his shoes.

Borussia Dortmund – Serhou Guirassy

Serhou Guirassy has scored in three consecutive Bundesliga games for the first time since the start of the season, netting five goals in this run – only Bayern's Harry Kane has scored as many in this period.

Guirassy has also scored six goals in seven Bundesliga appearances for Dortmund in 2026, with only Kane scoring more (seven) league-wide.

MATCH PREDICTION: RB LEIPZIG WIN

Despite Dortmund's strong league position, Leipzig are favoured in this tie given their recent history in the fixture. They have won their last five competitive home games against the Black and Yellow (four in the Bundesliga, one in the DFB-Pokal).

Dortmund have not lost as many away competitive games against any other team since the summer of 2021.

However, Leipzig have not won two consecutive Bundesliga games since October/November, when they won three in a row from MD7 to MD9. Since the start of MD10, they have lost as many games as they have won in the German top-flight (P13 W5 D3 L5).

And they are winless in their last three Bundesliga home matches (D1 L2) and have collected only four points from their last five such games overall (W1 D1 L3).

Dortmund, meanwhile, have won six consecutive Bundesliga games under Kovac for the first time. This is Dortmund's longest winning run since the start of 2023 (eight successive Bundesliga wins under Edin Terzic).

With 51 points from 22 matches, BVB are enjoying their joint-second-best Bundesliga season (matching 2015-16 and 2018-19) – only in the championship-winning season of 2010-11 did they have more points after 22 games (52).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

RB Leipzig – 43.1%

Draw – 24.1%

Borussia Dortmund – 32.8%

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