Gundogan expected to play in Eintracht clash

Thomas Tuchel expects Ilkay Gundogan to play in Borussia Dortmund’s Bundesliga clash with Eintracht Frankfurt.

Dortmund welcome Eintracht to Signal Iduna Park on Sunday aiming to keep pace with league leaders Bayern Munich, who they trail by five points at the top.

Attacking midfielder Gundogan missed Dortmund’s 1-0 Europa League defeat against PAOK because of a knock to his hip picked up in last weekend’s 2-1 win at Wolfsburg.

But, speaking in his pre-match media conference, head coach Tuchel said: “Gundogan trained [on Friday], I expect him to play.”

Erik Durm and Nuri Sahin have yet to play this season because of knee injuries, but Tuchel was able to provide a positive update on the duo.

He added: “Erik Durm and Nuri Sahin are in team training. The aim is to see them off injury-free to their winter vacation.”

Although Dortmund have just three games remaining before German football’s mid-season break, Tuchel is not expecting a let up from his players.

Tuchel said: “The next three games we will play at full throttle and the top limit.”