Sunday's Bundesliga action includes two huge fixtures between sides chasing European qualification for next season, including Eintracht Frankfurt versus Freiburg at Deutsche Bank Park.
The hosts come into the crucial encounter on the back of four successive draws following their tie with Barcelona in midweek, whilst the visitors were on the receiving end of a heavy defeat as they fell behind in the race for the top four last weekend.
Match preview
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Despite impressing for an hour of their Europa League quarter-final encounter with Barcelona on Thursday evening, Frankfurt could only come away with a 1-1 draw in the first leg at home.
An excellent strike from Ansgar Knauff provided Die Adler with a much-deserved lead, but after Ferran Torres equalised for the Catalan side just after the hour mark, and Tuta saw red for a second yellow card in the closing stages, Frankfurt were forced to hold on for a result in the end.
Attentions must quickly turn back to the Bundesliga now though, where back-to-back stalemates against RB Leipzig and Greuther Furth leave their hopes of continental football next season hanging in the balance.
Five points separate Oliver Glasner's side from Hoffenheim in sixth place, and with only five games to follow the clash with Freiburg on Sunday, those draws must be turned into wins if the hosts are to stand a chance of putting together a late charge for a top-six finish.
The single point against Greuther last weekend was a particular disappointment, considering the Cloverleaves are helplessly cut adrift at the foot of the table, but despite attempting 21 shots on their goal, in truth, Frankfurt struggled to create many goalscoring opportunities worthy of picking up all three points.
Glasner's men are still in with a chance of qualifying for Europe next season, but results must improve quickly, beginning with Sunday's clash at Deutsche Bank Park.
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Meanwhile, visitors Freiburg occupy fifth spot in the table at the time of writing - a four-place, and six-point, advantage over their opponents.
A six-match unbeaten run heading into last weekend had Christian Streich's men level on points with RB Leipzig in fourth place, but after being well beaten by leaders Bayern Munich, Freiburg fell behind in the race for a Champions League spot.
After Leon Goretzka had provided Bayern with the lead just before the hour mark, Nils Petersen netted the equaliser just five minutes later, and within a minute of his arrival off the bench.
A stubborn defensive performance by Streich's men for much of the game looked to be enough to hold the champions to a draw, but a late flurry of goals saw Freiburg eventually fall to a 4-1 defeat.
Hopes of a remarkable top-four finish are far from over for this season's surprise package, but a return to winning ways is required immediately if they are to keep up the pressure on the likes of Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen above them in the table.
In order to do so, Sunday's visitors must overcome an opponent that they have defeated just once in their last nine meetings, so Streich and his side will be hoping that past encounters are nothing to go by when it comes to the clash at Deutsche Bank Park on matchday 29.
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Team News
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Although fatigue could be an issue following the tiring display against Barcelona on Thursday, Frankfurt have very few injury concerns ahead of Sunday's fixture.
Second-choice goalkeeper Diant Ramaj, and Christopher Lenz, are the only injury worries, with the duo ruled out for at least another week.
Tuta's red card in midweek does not apply to the Bundesliga, so the central defender remains available, and as a result, an unchanged 11 could well be named by Glasner.
As for the visitors, right-back Lukas Kubler is likely to remain unavailable due to a muscular problem, so Jonathan Schmid is likely to deputise in the wing-back role once more on Sunday.
Yannik Keitel also remains sidelined with a broken toe, whilst Kevin Schade will miss out again due to an abdominal problem.
Petersen should have to settle for a role from the bench once more, as he has done for many of his years with Freiburg, meaning a front trio of Roland Sallai, Lucas Holer and Vincenzo Grifo will be tasked with the goalscoring burden.
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Tuta, Hinteregger, N'Dicka; Knauff, Jakic, Sow, Kostic; Lindstrom, Kamada; Borre
Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Flekken; Gulde, Leinhart, N Schlotterbeck; Schmid, Eggestein, Hofler, Gunter; Sallai, Grifo; Holer
We say: Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Freiburg
There is very little to choose between these two sides on paper, and also based on recent form, so a tight encounter that ends level seems like a likely outcome.
The visitors are one of the most solid defensive sides in the division, and with the hosts playing out low-scoring affairs in recent weeks, we can see these two sides cancelling each other out.
Top tip
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 Eintracht Frankfurt win with a probability of 41.68%. A win for Freiburg had a probability of 32.52% and a draw had a probability of 25.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Eintracht Frankfurt win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.89%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.81%) and 2-0 (7.11%). The likeliest Freiburg win was 0-1 (8.52%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.25%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 7.6% likelihood.
