The pressure is all on Borussia Dortmund heading into Tuesday night's much-anticipated 'Der Klassiker' against title rivals Bayern Munich.
Bayern, the reigning champions, are top of the table with a four point lead over Dortmund who will trail by seven points if they lose this game.
With just six rounds of the season remaining after this match, that would look like an insurmountable gap for last year's runners up to close.
Previous meetings: The home team has won this fixture for the last four league clashes (Bayern account for 3 of those) and Bayern hammered their guests at a sold-out Allianz Arena last November.
Over 75,000 watched as Robert Lewandowski (2), Serge Gnabry and Mats Hummels (own goal) all hit the back of the net in a 4-0 win for the champions.
The fact that Tuesday's match at Signal Iduna Park is being held behind closed doors is a major disadvantage for Dortmund.
The obvious reason being that there would normally be over 81,000 supporters packed in to see the game but it should also be noted that since the Bundesliga resumed, there have been very few home wins.
Just three matches in the last two rounds (18 fixtures) have been won by the home team; Dortmund on the first weekend of the return and Bayern and Hertha Berlin last weekend. There has been 10 away wins.
Last season Dortmund came out the right side of five goal thriller at home - Marco Reus scored two levellers after goals from Robert Lewandowski before Paco Alcacer, now with Villareal, bagged the winner.
Form:
Dortmund - last six: WWWWWW
The only blot on the league copybook of the hosts for 2020 was a 4-3 defeat against Bayer Leverkusen while they have scored an incredible 34 goals in the 10 league matches (W9 L1) they have played after the winter break.
In the first weekend of the Bundesliga's return, they hammered Schalke at home (4-0) before winning on the road against Wolfsburg (0-2).
Bayern - last six: WWWWWW
The champions haven't lost a league match since back-to-back defeats against Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Monchengladbach in December and they have only dropped two points in 2020 (W9 D1) in a draw with RB Leipzig in February.
Since the season resumed they have enjoyed wins away to Union Berlin (0-2) and most recently at home against Eintracht Frankfurt (5-2).
Weaknesses:
Dortmund: According to the official Bundesliga website, the Black & Yellow are sixth in the table when it comes to shots taken.
Their 368 shots places them sixth, behind Monchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayer Leverkusen, Leipzig and Bayern who top the table with 504 shots.
It is also worth noting that in their 2-0 win against Wolfsburg last time out, they had 6 shots compared to 8 for the losing side while in the previous 4-0 win, Schalke still managed 10 shots to their 11. You would expect Bayern to be more clinical.
Bayern: Poor defensive marking at corners led to both goals in their 5-2 win against Eintracht Frankfurt at the weekend. Martin Hinteregger scored both.
Dortmund will take confidence from this as they top the charts when it comes to goals from set-pieces with 24. That's 6 more than both Bayern and Wolfsburg behind them.
Sharpshooters collide:
Both sides are packed with talent but there is no doubt that the main focus will be on the two men leading their respective lines.
In the red corner - The undisputed Bundesliga scoring champion Robert Lewandowski has topped the charts for four of the last six seasons in Germany.
The 31-year-old Poland international has already bagged 27 league goals this season, two in the last two matches, while he has found the net an incredible twelve times in the last six meetings with his old club Dortmund.
In the yellow corner - The challenger Erling Haaland who has continued his ascendancy to superstardom since his €20 million move from Salzburg in the January transfer window.
He hit the ground running, scoring a 20 minute hat-trick when he was released from the bench in a 5-3 win at Augsburg on his debut.
The 19-year-old Norwegian scored 9 goals in his first 6 league matches and while he has scored just once since the season got back underway, he has been instrumental in nearly all of the goals scored in the two most recent wins.
Team news:
Dortmund - Out: Reus (thigh), Schulz (muscular), Zagadou (knee) Doubtful: Witsel (groin)
Coach: Lucien Favre
Bayern - Out: Coutinho (ankle), Thiago (groin), Tolisso (ankle) Doubtful: Süle (match fitness)
Coach: Hansi Flick
How to watch:
The match kicks off at 17:30 and will be broadcast live on BT Sport 1 from 17:00.
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