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• Sahin enjoying more options as Borussia Dortmund injury list shortens

  Borussia Dortmund will have several players back from injury for their Bundesliga game against visitors Freiburg on Saturday, with coach Nuri Sahin relieved to have more options again.

  The Ruhr valley club have had as many as 10 players injured at some stage as they have dropped to seventh place in the league, 10 points off leaders Bayern Munich.

  But they will now have five players back for their return to action, including goalkeeper Gregor Kobel, as well as Gio Reyna, Julien Duranville, Waldemar Anton and Jamie Gittens.

  "After a long time there is more good news than bad news regarding injuries," Sahin told a press conference on Thursday.

  "I don't expect Gio and Duranville, for example, to be at 100% but the physios have done a great job.

  "So if they are in the squad that means they can play. I'm just happy to be able to take decisions. We can now take some nice decisions."

  Until the international break last week, Dortmund, who travel to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League next week, struggled with injuries and failed to win any of their away matches in the league, losing touch with the leading teams.

  Dortmund, who have 16 points from 10 games, will be without injured defender Niklas Sule and suspended captain Emre Can.

  "I had said we were running on fumes before the international break because we had to play with the same team," Sahin said.

  "I think we played with an almost identical lineup in five consecutive games. I hope that in the coming weeks we will be able to rotate more.

• Dortmund paying the price for woeful away form – Sahin

  Nuri Sahin made no excuses after another dismal away performance saw Borussia Dortmund slip to a 3-1 loss at Mainz.

  Dortmund saw Emre Can sent off as they fell to a fourth straight away defeat in the Bundesliga.

  Saturday's loss leaves them in seventh place, 10 points behind leaders Bayern Munich.

  "A difficult away game for us. Once we got that red card it got really hard," said Sahin, whose team have become the second Bundesliga side this century to have zero wins in their first five away games and five wins from their first five home games (after Borussia Monchengladbach in 2013-14).

  "We have too few points on the road though I have to analyse today's defeat a bit differently than the other defeats because of the red card.

  "With a few more points we would be somewhere else in the table. But for us we just are getting too few points."

  Mainz picked up what was their first home win of the season in the Bundesliga, as they made their numerical advantage count following Emre Can's 27th-minute dismissal following a rash tackle. 

  "Emre can't go into this challenge like that," Sahin said.

  "He wins the first ball and then in the second effort he should stay up."

• Mainz 3-1 Borussia Dortmund: 10-man visitors slump to another away defeat

  Borussia Dortmund slumped to a fourth consecutive away defeat on Saturday, losing 3-1 to Mainz after Emre Can's first-half sending-off. 

  Dortmund, who had a midweek confidence boost with a 1-0 home win over Sturm Graz in the Champions League, struggled against the hosts and were left with 10 men in the 27th minute when their captain launched a reckless studs-up challenge on Lee Jae-Sung and received a straight red card.

  Things got even worse when the South Korean rose to nod a deft finish past Alexander Meyer to give Mainz the lead in the 36th minute.

  However, Lee then brought down Serhou Guirassy in the box just four minutes later, with the striker restoring parity from 12 yards.

  Dortmund could not hold on until half-time though, as their defence was again caught out when Jonathan Burkardt turned in a cutback in first-half stoppage time.

  After the break, Mainz picked up where they had left off, bagging a third goal through Paul Nebel, who coolly slid in from the edge of the six-yard box in the 54th minute.

  Dortmund, who have lost four of their five away league games this season and drawn the other, are on 16 points in seventh spot. Mainz are three points behind in 10th.

  Data Debrief: Away day woes

  Dortmund have won just one of their away games in all competitions this season - a 3-0 victory over Club Brugge in the Champions League - but there does not seem to be an end in sight to their troubles.

  It is the first time that Dortmund have lost six competitive away games on the bounce since 2006-07, but Nuri Sahin's bigger worry will be the fact that they only attempted two shots, with their penalty the only effort on target. 

  Meanwhile, Mainz have ended a three-match winless run in the Bundesliga, extending their impressive recent record against Dortmund in the process, as they are unbeaten in four games against the Black and Yellow (W2 D2).