Eintracht Frankfurt will be looking to bounce back from successive defeats when they welcome Borussia Dortmund to Waldstadion in the Bundesliga on Sunday night.
The home side will enter the match off the back of a 3-0 home loss to Arsenal in the Europa League on Thursday night, while Dortmund drew 0-0 with Barcelona in the Champions League during the week.
Match preview
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Frankfurt impressed in last season's Europa League - reaching the semi-finals of the competition before losing to Chelsea - but the German outfit got their 2019-20 campaign off to the worst possible start on Thursday night as they suffered a 3-0 home defeat to Premier League outfit Arsenal.
The European loss followed a 2-1 defeat at Augsburg in the Bundesliga last weekend, and it would be fair to say that Adi Hutter's side have made a modest start to the new league season, winning two and losing two of their four matches to occupy ninth spot heading into Week Five.
Both of Frankfurt's league wins this season have come in front of their own fans, but the hosts will be at a disadvantage considering that Dortmund played their European game 48 hours earlier.
Die Adler know that a victory this weekend would move them level on points with Dortmund in the table, but a defeat could see them drop deep into the bottom half due to the closeness that exists at this stage.
Each of the last two Bundesliga meetings between the two teams at the home of Frankfurt has finished level, while Dortmund have not actually triumphed in this fixture since September 2013, which is an indication of the size of the task facing BVB despite their tag as favourites heading into Sunday's clash.
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Dortmund will feel that they should have beaten Barca in the Champions League on Tuesday night, with the German side having the better of the opportunities. Marco Reus had a golden chance to score from the penalty spot in the 57th minute, but the Germany international could not find the back of the net.
It was still a welcome point for the Bundesliga outfit, though, and their attention will now switch back to the league. Lucien Favre's team have won three and lost one of their four matches this season to sit second - one point off leaders RB Leipzig heading into the next set of fixtures.
Dortmund started their league season with back-to-back wins over Augsburg and Koln before suffering a surprise 3-1 loss at Union Berlin. BVB were back on track last weekend with a 4-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen, though, and will now be looking for another victory on Sunday night.
Dortmund have struggled to win this particular fixture in recent years, but they have not lost a Bundesliga game to Frankfurt since November 2016. What's more, their opponents have only had two full days to prepare for the contest following their Europa League exertions.
Jadon Sancho will once again be looking to make a positive impression this weekend. An impressive start to the campaign has seen the 19-year-old - strongly linked with Manchester United - score three times and contribute six assists in seven appearances in all competitions.
Eintracht Frankfurt form: LLWWLL
Borussia Dortmund form: WWWLWD
Team News
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The home side will be without the services of Mijat Gacinovic due to a groin problem, while Marco Russ is also still on the sidelines following a ruptured Achilles.
Frankfurt are also expected to be without Jonathan de Guzman and Sebastian Rode due to muscular and knee injuries respectively, but Goncalo Paciencia should return to the XI at centre-forward.
Paciencia started on the bench against Arsenal with Bas Dost and Andre Silva named in the final third, but the 25-year-old has three Bundesliga goals to his name this term and should return.
As for Dortmund, Julian Brandt is pushing for a start ahead of Thorgan Hazard, but Nico Schulz and Lukasz Piszczek are both expected to be unavailable for BVB.
As a result, Achraf Hakimi and Raphael Guerreiro should continue in the full-back positions, while the likes of Thomas Delaney, Reus, Sancho and Paco Alcacer are certainties to start.
Alcacer has scored five times in four Bundesliga appearances this season, while the Spaniard has seven goals in seven outings in all competitions during the 2019-20 campaign.
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup: Trapp; Abraham, Hasebe, Hinteregger; Da Costa, Kohr, Fernandes, Kostic; Kamada; Silva, Paciencia
Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup: Burki; Hakimi, Akanji, Hummels, Guerreiro; Witsel, Delaney; Sancho, Reus, Hazard; Alcacer
We say: Eintracht Frankfurt 1-2 Borussia Dortmund
Frankfurt's defeat to Arsenal was hardly ideal preparation for Sunday's clash against BVB. There is no question that the home side have the credentials to make it an uncomfortable 90 minutes for Favre's team, but we expect the visitors to claim their fourth league victory of the season.
Matt Law
