Just 17 miles and four places separate Borussia Dortmund and Schalke ahead of the Revierderby on Matchday 26, so how do the two local rivals compare before the 'mother of all derbies' at the Signal Iduna Park?

bundesliga.com puts the two giants of German football under the microscope…

Attacking differences

Dortmund coach Lucien Favre said in an interview last week that he has "no concerns about his attack", and there's good reason for that. Their total of 68 goals from 25 matchdays is a new club record in the Bundesliga, breaking their 56-year-old record from the league's maiden season when they had 65.

Although those strikes have been spread across a league-high 16 different players, they are still mostly concentrated on three individuals. Jadon Sancho (14), Marco Reus (11) and Erling Haaland (nine) account for exactly half that total and have scored more than the entire Schalke squad combined (30). If own goals were a player, he'd be joint fourth in the Royal Blues' scoring charts.

Watch: A closer look at Dortmund’s deadly attack

Schalke's 33 league goals this season is more than they had at this stage last term (27), but fewer than they've had when in the top six after 25 games for over 20 years. While they have the tamest attack in the top half of the league over the course of the season, the Gelsenkirchen club do get the best bang for their buck and average a league-best 1.12 points per goal.

Defensive similarities

When it comes to keeping goals out, there are far fewer disparities. Dortmund (33) have conceded just three goals less than their local rivals (36), but that is still their worst total after 25 games since letting in 41 in 2007/08, which even precedes the Jürgen Klopp era at the Signal Iduna Park.

Yet BVB have kept 10 clean sheets this term, which is the best in the league alongside leaders Bayern Munich. The 2-1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach last weekend was the first time in a month that Die Schwarzgelben had conceded a Bundesliga goal, while they haven't let one in at home since the end of January - against Cologne.

To add to the mystery that is Dortmund's defence, Roman Bürki has the lowest save rate of any goalkeeper on more than six appearances this season, stopping just over 54 per cent of efforts on his goal. And that is despite keeping seven clean sheets. Key for Schalke, then, would be to get shots away and test the Swiss goalkeeper, but the Royal Blues have fired off the third-lowest amount of shots in the league.

Schalke have kept three clean sheets in their eight Rückrunde games, and seven over the season, which is only fewer than Bayern and Dortmund, but 36 goals conceded is above average for this stage of a campaign. On the other hand, the 10 first-half goals they've let in this season is the fewest in the division.

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Although Alexander Nübel has been in goal for six of those shutouts, and his save rate of 70 per cent is the same as future Bayern teammate Manuel Neuer, Markus Schubert has been restored as number one. The 21-year-old's ratio is up to around 76 per cent and trails only Pervan Pavao of Wolfsburg and Freiburg’s Mark Flekken for players with more than six appearances.

Two back threes and four across the midfield?

Dortmund have used both three- and four-man defences this season, but since December it's been almost exclusively the former. The only exception in that time saw a 4-3 loss at Bayer Leverkusen.

The preference is for Mats Hummels to sit in the centre of either Manuel Akanji and Dan-Axel Zagadou, or Lukasz Piszczek if one is not available.

In that formation, Favre opts for a now consistent midfield four. Axel Witsel and January signing Emre Can form the core with both willing to put themselves about in attack and defence. Achraf Hakimi and Raphael Guerreiro provide the wide threat as wing-backs.

The absence of Reus was a setback for BVB, but the form of Haaland (nine goals and one assist in 512 minutes) and Sancho (14 goals and 15 assists in 23 games) has helped reduce that impact in the final third. Together with Julian Brandt and Thorgan Hazard, they rotate and produce a fluid offensive line, either as an outright front three or having two behind the central striker.

Schalke had originally only used a back four with Jonjoe Kenny and Bastian Oczipka as the full-backs. Ozan Kabak, Matija Nastasic, Benjamin Stambouli, Salif Sane and more recently Jean-Clair Todibo have shared centre-back duties depending on injuries, which have hampered David Wagner's wish for a consistent defence.

In the last few weeks, though, Wagner has switched to a three-/five-man defence in his search for greater solidity after a string of heavy defeats. A back line of Kenny, Timo Becker, Todibo, Nastasic and Oczipka frustrated Bayern in their DFB Cup quarter-final, with only a Joshua Kimmich shot from a cleared corner the difference in the game.

A bustling midfield of captain Omar Mascarell, Weston McKennie and Suat Serdar goes a long way to explaining why Schalke have won the most challenges of any team this season (Dortmund are 14th in this regard), but injuries have again meant Wagner has been unable to play with any real continuity in the middle of the pitch.

Watch: McKennie on his versatility and “midfielder instincts”

The new formation, functioning as a form of 5-3-2 or 3-5-2/3-4-3 has seen McKennie partnered with Alessandro Schöpf. They're behind the contrasting forward pair of Rabbi Matondo and Guido Burgstaller, both of whom have been restored to the side following a dip in form from Benito Raman and Michael Gregoritsch. Those four attackers allow Wagner flexibility in the final third, whether he wants pace to counter or a big striker in the box, or a combination of the two.

Form pointing one way

Borussia have been pretty ruthless since the turn of the year in the Bundesliga, winning seven of their eight games with a goal difference of +18. Their 27 goals scored equates to 3.4 per match, while Haaland (nine) and Sancho (five) have both netted more than the entire Schalke squad combined (four) in that time.

Sancho, in particular, has been in blistering form. The 19-year-old has scored or assisted in his last eight straight league games, and 13 of the last 14. He's proven that he's one of the best players in the Bundesliga and is almost impossible to stop over a full 90 minute. In fact, just four of his 23 appearances this season have seen him fail to have a hand in a goal.

Watch: Dortmund kept up their run with a 2-1 win at Gladbach

Dortmund's form has seen them rise to second in the table and is a stark contrast to that of Schalke coming into this fixture. Since beating Gladbach 2-0 in the opening game of the Rückrunde, the Royal Blues are winless in seven, which is currently the longest run in the league and their longest under Wagner.

They are 15th in the table for the second half of the season with just seven points from a possible 24 since the turn of the year. BVB, on the other hand, have three times that total.

Huge history

Form, though, goes out the window in the Revierderby. Just take last season as an example. Schalke were on their knees when they last made the short trip east to Dortmund, hovering dangerously above the relegation play-off spot. By contrast, BVB were second and just a point off Bayern.

Yet for the second year running, Die Knappen scored four goals at the Signal Iduna Park as they claimed a remarkable 4-2 win. It accounted for over 10 per cent of their total goal tally in the season. To add to the derby spoils, it essentially ended Borussia's title challenge. Had BVB won that, they would’ve gone on to be crowned champions.

Watch: Highlights of the last Revierderby in Dortmund

It was a double win for Royal Blue fans that came a year after they 'won' their 4-4 draw in Dortmund after an injury-time Naldo header completed a comeback from 4-0 down inside the first 25 minutes. It's one of the reasons why Amine Harit has claimed Schalke can "score three or four goals" despite their relatively poor form.

Die Knappen are unbeaten in three visits to the Signal Iduna Park and have lost just one of their last eight matches home or away in this fixture, proving that anything can happen in the derby.

Overall in this match-up, it's pretty even. Ninety-five Bundesliga encounters have seen 33 Dortmund victories and 32 for Schalke. Thirty draws is a record for both clubs, while no other Bundesliga fixture has seen more 0-0 stalemates than the Revierderby with 11. However, the Gelsenkirchen club have come out on top most often since the turn of the millennium, winning 15 (16 draws, nine defeats).

Fortress Dortmund?

Last year's 4-2 loss in the derby was in fact the only time Favre has lost a Bundesliga home game in charge of Dortmund. His record from the remaining 28 matches is 23 wins and five draws, in which BVB have scored 93 goals (3.2 per game) and conceded 35.

Few visiting sides, though, know how to handle the cauldron of the Signal Iduna Park and the Yellow Wall better than Schalke. Of teams to visit more than once, Borussia only have a lower win rate at home to record champions Bayern than they do to the Royal Blues.

Watch: Highlights of that incredible 4-4 draw in 2017

Of 20 encounters at the Westfalenstadion, Dortmund have won just four but lost eight. It includes a 4-0 defeat in September 2000, which remains their heaviest loss at home in the Bundesliga against any team. No player has scored more in that time there than Daniel Caligiuri with three, including a penalty and free-kick last season.

You have to go back to November 2015 for the last time BVB won a derby at home as Shinji Kagawa, Matthias Ginter and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang secured a 3-2 victory under Thomas Tuchel.

The decision of the City of Dortmund to hold the match behind closed doors also poses interesting questions. It removes most of the home advantage for BVB with 81,365 fans in black and yellow no longer cheering them on inside the ground, which Schalke will no doubt see as a plus for them to help level things up with form not on their side.

While Borussia would absolutely prefer to celebrate a potential win with their fans present, perhaps the absence of the added pressure and expectation from the stands could help the team end its negative derby run at home. That effect can be seen in their recent two visits to the Veltins-Arena, where they’ve lost just one of the last five.

But all the rules go out the window when it comes to the Revierderby. Like Mother Nature herself, the mother of all derbies does things her own way.

About the clubs

Borussia Dortmund

SIGNAL IDUNA PARK

FC Schalke 04

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