Top match sees third meet fourth in Gladbach

"I think everyone will be fit for Saturday," declared Lucien Favre at the press conference on Thursday afternoon. Everyone aside from injured captain Marco Reus, that is. "We can't say exactly when he'll be back," the coach admitted.

The Black & Yellows have already gotten the better of the Foals twice this season, winning 1-0 in the Bundesliga and 2-1 in the DFB Cup Second Round. "We've beaten Gladbach on two occasions. But we know that they're a very good team. They regularly change up their system; they do that very well," said Favre. Sporting director Michael Zorc, meanwhile, emphasised the importance of a fixture against a direct rival in the table, saying: "We're up against a direct rival on Saturday. We need to improve significantly on our performance in the match against Freiburg."

In a run that started in April 2015, Borussia Dortmund have won each of their past 10 league or cup meetings with Borussia Mönchengladbach (Match Facts). It is their longest such winning streak against any club. "I believe we have a very good plan for how we want to win the game. We have a lot of quality in the team and we gained a lot of additional quality from the new signings we made over the winter," Zorc added.

"Whole wars have been prevented by dialogue in the past"

Zorc also took a clear stance on the incidents that took place during the last round of fixtures. "We need to take a nuanced view of the problem. The incidents that took place last weekend, racism and homophobia – it's all been lumped together. That doesn't do the matter justice. The ultras are responsible for ensuring that we don't have any right-wing hatred behind the goal. What needs to stop more than anything else is discrimination against individual persons. I'm in favour of maintaining a dialogue. Whole wars have been prevented by dialogue in the past."

BVB TV: The press conference with Lucien Favre and Michael Zorc