After Wednesday’s 4-0 thrashing of Atlético Madrid, Dortmund have now won six games in a row, and Sancho has chalked up either a goal or an assist in each of those wins.
League leaders Dortmund are in such superb shape that some are already casting them as title favourites ahead of Saturday’s tough clash with Hertha Berlin.
Lucien Favre’s team have drawn comparisons with the Jürgen Klopp-era Dortmund, and it is easy to see why after six thumping wins in a row.
Dortmund have scored 26 goals in their last six games, with super-subs Sancho and Paco Alcácer doing much of the damage.
“Lucien Favre gives you the feeling that you belong, even when you don’t make the team,” explained midfielder Thomas Delaney this week. “He really gets the right balance.”
However, both Alcácer and Delaney are doubts for Saturday’s game.
Dortmund are three points clear at the top of the league, and four points ahead of fourth-placed Bayern Munich.
The champions are still searching for their best form, with Mats Hummels complaining of “fundamental problems” in midweek.
Mats Hummels has said that Bayern Munich still have “fundamental” problems to deal with, as the champions look to continue their mini-recovery away to Mainz on Saturday.
Bayern had failed to win four games in a row before last weekend, and despite victories over Wolfsburg and AEK Athens since then, Hummels insisted they are not out of the woods yet.
“We keep giving the ball away too easily in defence or playing unnecessary long balls,” said Hummels.
Elsewhere, Borussia Mönchengladbach striker Alassane Pléa will be seeking to write himself into the record books against Freiburg on Friday.
With Bayern languishing in fourth, high-flying Gladbach are the ones keeping the heat on Dortmund in second, and much of that is down to the French striker.
Pléa has scored eight goals in nine games this season, and could become only the third player to score a goal in each of his first five Bundesliga away games if he scores on Friday, following Steffen Baumgart and Serge Gnabry.
“I’ve had a very good start,” Pléa told Bild. “As a striker, it is always good to be scoring goals.”
Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen remain mired in the early-season blues.
Schalke are out to end their goal drought away to RB Leipzig on Sunday.
Domenico Tedesco’s side have scored just five goals in eight league games this season, and failed to take any of their 17 chances in a 0-0 draw with Galatasaray on Wednesday.
Their poor conversion rate sees last year’s runners-up stuck in the relegation play-off place, just a point off the bottom of the table.
“We need a result if we are going to start climbing up the table,” said Tedesco on Wednesday. “This phase can’t go on forever.”
Bayer Leverkusen are another big Bundesliga club in trouble, as coach Heiko Herrlich fights to save his job.
Leverkusen have only two wins from their first eight games, and rumours that Herrlich is heading for the chop were exacerbated this week when Kicker reported that the club had been in contact with former RB Leipzig coach Ralph Hasenhüttl.
Herrlich and his team face a tough task on Sunday, coming off the back of a Europa League tie to face a confident Werder Bremen side who are punching above their weight in third place.