RB Leipzig travel west to take on Eintracht Frankfurt at Deutsche Bank Park as the developing 2020-21 Bundesliga season which reaches the 10-game mark.
The hosts are struggling down in 15th in the table, just one place above the relegation playoff spot, whilst the visitors have had a mixed campaign so far and sit in sixth.
Match preview
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Frankfurt have had a tough start to the season, potentially struggling to balance their time in the Bundesliga and the Europa League, and it is their league form which is suffering.
Die Adler are thriving in Europe, having picked up seven points from their first three games and currently sitting top of Group D, but have been struggling to get over the line in league games, which resulted in a run of five consecutive draws through August and September.
They followed that up with a shock victory over the mighty Bayern Munich, which will have given new boss Oliver Glasner hope, but have now lost their last two games - 2-1 at home to Hertha Berlin and a disappointing 2-0 defeat at the hands of fellow strugglers VfL Bochum last weekend.
Two big departures over the summer have clearly been a factor in this season's struggles, with last season's top goalscorer Andre Silva heading to Leipzig and former manager Adi Hutter moving to the Borussia Monchengladbach dugout.
Whilst the performances in Europe have been good, improvement will be expected of the new manager to restore his side to their usual spot in and around the European places.
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Silva will not be going easy on his former employers as he looks to improve on a somewhat slow start to life at his new club.
The Portuguese striker has managed just two goals in nine league games - as well as one during an ultimately unsuccessful comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League - but has not been helped by his side's struggles under new manager Jesse Marsch.
Home form has not been the issue for the American boss so far, with a heavy defeat to Bayern their only blip in an otherwise 100% record, but being winless in their four games on the road certainly is becoming an issue.
Last season's runners-up did move up to sixth in the table with a comfortable 4-1 victory at home to bottom-of-the-table Greuther Furth last weekend, thanks to goals from Yussuf Poulsen, Emil Forsberg, Dominik Szoboszlai and Hugo Novoa, but the Leipzig owners have high expectations and Marsch will need to make a marked improvement to their away form.
He has the chance this weekend against a Frankfurt side not at their usual level, but they are something of a bogey team for Die Roten Bullen, who have not triumphed in their last four encounters.
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Team News
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Glasner will be pleased that captain Sebastian Rode has returned to full fitness following his knee injury and is in line for his first start since the DFB-Pokal first round back in August.
However, he will be without Goncalo Paciencia after the Portuguese forward suffered a minor thigh strain in the game against Bochum, which could see Rafael Borre and Sam Lammers start up top in a 3-4-1-2 formation.
Paciencia joins Kristijan Jakic, Aymen Barkok and Christopher Lenz in the treatment room.
US international Tyler Adams played the full 90 minutes in the cup game on Tuesday but will likely drop back to the bench on the return to league action along with Szoboszlai, despite the Hungarian having grabbed the winner.
Marsch will be boosted by the return of Dani Olmo to the squad after a month out with a thigh strain, but it will almost certainly be too early for a spot in the starting XI.
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Toure, Hinteregger, N'Dicka; Durm, Sow, Rode, Kostic; Kamada; Borre, Lammers
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Gulacsi; Simakan, Orban, Gvardiol; Mukiele, Haidara, Kampl, Angelino; Nkunku, Forsberg; Poulsen
We say: Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 RB Leipzig
This game could go either way considering Leipzig's struggles on the road and Frankfurt's struggles in general. The hosts are likely to adopt an attack-minded approach and the visitors are rarely shy in front of goal so this could end up being a higher-scoring game, but we are backing a 1-1 draw on this occasion.
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 RB Leipzig win with a probability of 47.19%. A win for Eintracht Frankfurt had a probability of 30.31% and a draw had a probability of 22.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a RB Leipzig win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.14%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (6.75%) and 0-2 (6.28%). The likeliest Eintracht Frankfurt win was 2-1 (7.16%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (9.83%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 9.8% likelihood.
