Borussia Monchengladbach take on Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga on Saturday, with the visitors looking to cement their position in the Champions League qualifying places.
Gladbach, meanwhile, are still chasing a Europa League qualifying position as the Marco Rose era comes towards its end, with Frankfurt boss Adi Hutter lined up as his replacement.
Match preview
© Reuters
Gladbach were hoping to record a third successive league win when travelling to relegation contenders Hertha Berlin on Saturday, but ultimately they would have been extremely satisfied to have earned a 2-2 draw after their goalkeeper Yann Sommer was sent off after only 13 minutes.
The Swiss international was given his marching orders after bringing Jhon Cordoba down just outside the area after the Hertha forward had shown a quick turn of feet to evade him.
Matters turned from bad to worse for Rose's side ten minutes later when Santiago Ascacibar scored his first goal for Hertha with a superb strike from outside of the area.
However, Die Fohlen showed the sort of spirit which has been sorely lacking at the club in more recent times, with Alassane Plea latching onto Marcus Thuram's excellent throughball to level proceedings with a decent finish across Alexander Schwolow.
Thuram subsequently earned his fifth penalty of the season, with Lars Stindl duly obliging from the spot to see his side enter the half-time interval one man down, but one goal up.
Hertha boss Pal Dardai was clearly unhappy with his side's display, making three half-time substitutes, with Cordoba providing the response his manager was looking for by restoring parity only four minutes after the break.
Matteo Guendouzi went close to finding a winner with a powerful effort from range, but Gladbach held on for a creditable draw to stay level on points with seventh-placed Union Berlin in the table as they look to secure European football.
© Reuters
Frankfurt, meanwhile, strengthened their claims of qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in the club's history by coming out on top in a thrilling 4-3 home win over Wolfsburg last weekend.
The visitors had taken an early lead through Ridle Baku's curling effort from outside of the area, but Daichi Kamada restored parity only two minutes later with a clinical finish after Sebastian Rode had cleverly dummied the ball for the Japan midfielder to run onto.
Luka Jovic assured that Frankfurt entered the half-time interval ahead after Andre Silva displayed a terrific turn of pace to race down the right before squaring the ball for his strike partner to finish, with Wout Weghorst and Silva both getting themselves on the scoresheet yet again early in the second half to assure a spectacularly topsy-turvy game would not fizzle out.
Erik Durm scored his first Bundesliga goal in over five years to put his side two goals ahead for the first time in the game, with Tuta's late own goal proving nothing more than a consolation one for Wolfsburg, as Frankfurt moved to within one point of the Wolves in the table, while more importantly remaining seven points ahead of fifth-placed Borussia Dortmund.
- L
- L
- L
- W
- W
- D
- L
- L
- L
- W
- W
- D
- L
- D
- D
- W
- W
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Gladbach will be without the suspended Sommer after his dismissal against Hertha, with Tobias Sippel expected to deputise for him between the posts.
The 33-year-old made only his eighth league appearance in six seasons for the club against Hertha, so Rose will be hoping for an inspired performance from the back-up goalkeeper.
Christoph Kramer will also miss out after picking up his fifth caution of the season in Berlin, so Denis Zakaria will likely move into midfield, with Jordan Beyer slotting into the defence as Nico Elvedi remains sidelined through a calf injury.
Jonas Hofmann could return having tested positive for COVID-19 while on international duty with Germany last month, but may be eased into things from the bench.
Frankfurt, meanwhile, will travel without Ragnar Ache and Almamy Toure, who have both been ruled out for the season with tendon injuries.
Martin Hinteregger could return to the squad having recovered from a thigh injury, but is unlikely to start.
Amin Younes is likely to be used from the bench once again after Kamada, Silva and Jovic all scored against Wolfsburg last time out.
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Sippel; Ginter, Beyer, Bensebaini; Lainer, Zakaria, Neuhaus, Wendt; Plea, Stindl, Thuram
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Tuta, Ilsanker, N'Dicka; Durm, Rode, Sow, Kostic; Kamada; Silva, Jovic
We say: Borussia Monchengladbach 1-3 Eintracht Frankfurt
We can envisage a high-scoring match between two sides who possess plenty of attacking firepower, but can lack defensive solidity at times.
The suspensions of Sommer and Kramer could significantly hurt Gladbach, who would have had a hard enough time keeping the likes of Silva, Jovic and Filip Kostic quiet in any case.
Frankfurt's march to displacing Gladbach as a German Champions League representative for next season should continue with another win.
Brett Curtis
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Borussia Monchengladbach win with a probability of 38.8%. A win for Eintracht Frankfurt had a probability of 36.13% and a draw had a probability of 25.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Borussia Monchengladbach win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.54%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.47%) and 2-0 (6.14%). The likeliest Eintracht Frankfurt win was 1-2 (8.19%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.77%). The actual scoreline of 4-0 was predicted with a 1.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Borussia Monchengladbach would win this match.
