The last home game against Mainz on Matchday 33 of last season culminated in defeat – and ended Borussia Dortmund's unbeaten home record against the men from Mainz: the 2-1 reverse that day was the first time in 12 matches that BVB had lost to the 05ers at Signal Iduna Park. Here we bring you the match facts.

The scenario: Ten places and 30 points separate second-placed Dortmund and 12th-placed Mainz. BVB have won six of their last eight matches against the men from Rhenish Hesse (D1 L1), letting in fewer than one goal (0.9) per game on average. That's fewer than they have conceded against every other current Bundesliga club.

Home/away: Borussia Dortmund are the only team yet to lose a game at home this season. The Black & Yellows have picked up 38 points out of a possible 42 (W12 D2). 1. FSV Mainz 05 have lost each of their last five Bundesliga away matches and conceded at least two goals in every one of those games (17 in total).

Personnel matters: Piszczek and Hakimi are injured, while there are doubts about the involvement of Zagadou, Guerreiro, Sancho and Pulisic. Mainz will be without Adler, Mwene, Holtmann, Abass and Berggreen.

Head-to-head record: BVB have won 13 of their past 17 meetings (D2 L2). The first four home games against Mainz produced four draws, but that was followed by six victories on the bounce and then their one and only home defeat to the 05ers on the penultimate matchday last term. Uerdingen are the only club BVB have faced more times at home in the Bundesliga without losing a single game (13).

Statistics: The Black & Yellows have lost none of the previous 30 league games in which they opened the scoring. Additionally, they have won five matches in which they conceded the opening goal. Mainz have lost the last six matches in which their opponents scored first. Nonetheless, the 05ers have improved on the previous campaign: Mainz have already amassed 33 points – seven more than they had at the same stage of last season (26).

Biggest victory: Goals scored by Ebi Smolarek, Jan Koller and Lars Ricken secured a 3-0 victory in February 2005. The Black & Yellows had 31 shots on goal in total that day – a record for the 2004/05 season.

Attendance: Signal Iduna Park is sold-out with 81,365 fans set to attend. Mainz will bring 4,500 fans.

Referee: Deniz Aytekin, 40, from Oberasbach in Bavaria will be overseeing a Bundesliga match involving Borussia Dortmund for the 24th time. There have been 13 wins (most recently in Leipzig), four wins and six defeats (most recently at home to Leipzig in 2017). His linesmen are Eduard Beitinger and Dominik Schaal, with Frank Willenborg to be the fourth official. Günter Perl and Patrick Alt will be the video assistants.
Compiled by Boris Rupert