Eintracht Frankfurt take on FC Koln in the Bundesliga on Sunday, with the hosts looking to win their eighth league game in nine matches.
Koln, meanwhile, have won three of their last four themselves to move four points clear of the relegation zone.
Match preview
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Frankfurt have simply been in stunning form over the last couple of months, winning seven and drawing two since last losing in the league to Wolfsburg on 11 December.
As such, the club have a golden opportunity to compete in the Champions League for the first time in their history, with the likes of Andre Silva, Filip Kostic and Daichi Kamada all arguably in the form of their careers.
Adi Hutter's side were too strong for Hoffenheim during their 3-1 win last weekend, with Amin Younes finding the onrushing Kostic in acres of space after only 15 minutes. The Serbian duly obliged with a sharp finish across goal, although Ihlas Bebou did level the proceedings after the break by showing fine footwork and searing pace before coolly slotting the ball into the bottom corner.
However, Kostic twice turned from goalscorer to provider, curling a trademark free kick into the area for Evan N'Dicka to precisely place his powerful header into the bottom corner from almost the edge of the area, before Kamada found the Serbian out with a gorgeously drilled long pass. Generally, Kostic only has one thing in his mind in those areas of the pitch: find Silva at the back post. The Portugal striker delivered once more by nodding home for his eighth goal in six league games, which he will be hoping to add to against Koln on Sunday.
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Indeed, while it is far from the best time for Koln to face the flying Frankfurt, the reverse could be considered to be equally true.
Having signed Max Meyer and Emmanuel Bonaventure in the last week of January's transfer deadline day, Markus Gisdol's side finally moved clear of the relegation zone with a surprise 2-1 win at Borussia Monchengladbach last weekend.
Koln started incredibly brightly, with slick passing and interplay helping Elvis Rexhbecaj find a few yards of space on the edge of Gladbach's penalty area. The attacking midfielder obliged by scoring for the second game in a row, but just 13 minutes later the host were level via Florian Neuhaus's deflected effort from outside of the area.
Marco Rose's side were surprisingly timid, though, with Koln looking the more likely side to find a winner on the break. After sloppy passing out from the back by Gladbach, Rexhbecaj pounced once again to fire past Yann Sommer, before the Swiss goalkeeper superbly denied Ondrej Duda wrapping up the three points moments later. However, Koln comfortably survived for a crucial victory, but they will likely need to find another gear to repeat a similar result in Frankfurt on Sunday.
Eintracht Frankfurt Bundesliga form: WWDWWW
Eintracht Frankfurt form (all competitions): LWDWWW
FC Koln Bundesliga form: LDWLWW
FC Koln form (all competitions): DWLWLW
Team News
Frankfurt are likely to be without forward Aymen Barkok until early March with a back injury, but otherwise Hutter appears to have a clean bill of health to choose from.
With the likes of Kamada, Kostic and Silva in such scintillating form, Luka Jovic is having to remain patient with a role as a second-half substitute at present.
Koln, meanwhile, have significantly more injury issues, and will travel to Frankfurt without Kingsley Ehizibue, Ismail Jakobs, Jonas Hector, Marius Wolf, Sebastian Bornauw, Sebastian Andersson and Florian Kainz.
Full-backs Jannes Horn and Benno Schmitz will be hoping to receive the nod from Gisdol to replace the injured Jakobs and Ezihibue, with the 51-year-old likely to pick a more defensively astute XI in order to attempt to combat Frankfurt's attacking prowess.
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Tuta, Hinteregger, N'Dicka; Durm, Sow, Hasebe, Kostic; Kamada, Younes; Silva
FC Koln possible starting lineup:
T. Horn; Cestic, Mere, Czichos; Schmitz, Skhiri, Ozcan, J. Horn; Duda, Rexhbecaj; Bonaventure
We say: Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 FC Koln
We can envisage Frankfurt's winning run continuing on Sunday, although they are likely to be made to work very hard for it as Koln's opponents often have been this season.
However, Kostic and Silva are one of the deadliest combinations in European football at present, so Gisdol's side will have a very tough ask in terms of thwarting them.
Top betting tip
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 Eintracht Frankfurt win with a probability of 56.36%. A win for FC Koln had a probability of 22.23% and a draw had a probability of 21.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Eintracht Frankfurt win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.79%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.17%) and 1-0 (8.1%). The likeliest FC Koln win was 1-2 (5.81%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (9.7%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with an 8.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Eintracht Frankfurt would win this match.
