Sports Mole previews Saturday’s Bundesliga clash between Borussia Monchengladbach and Eintracht Frankfurt, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Knowing a victory will guarantee a top-six finish in the Bundesliga table, Eintracht Frankfurt will travel to Borussia-Park to meet Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday.
With two games left to play, the visitors lead seventh-placed Freiburg by four points, while their hosts have the same cushion over the relegation zone.
Match preview
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Borussia Monchengladbach return to action on Saturday aiming to confirm their Bundesliga safety and extend their stay in Germany’s top flight to 17 straight seasons.
In what has certainly been a tough campaign, Die Fohlen built a crucial lead over the bottom three with a 3-1 triumph away at Wolfsburg in early April, but they have since been unable to move out of sight in the fight for survival, adding just two more points to their tally in the last four attempts.
That victory was firstly followed by back-to-back defeats at the hands of Borussia Dortmund and Hoffenheim, with an injury-time winner deciding the latter, and they now head into the weekend on the back of consecutive draws, initially sharing the points with Union Berlin in a goalless stalemate before most recently travelling to Werder Bremen on Saturday.
After going ahead early through Robin Hack, Gerardo Seoane’s side fell behind following a Nick Woltemade brace and looked set to leave empty-handed, only to win a penalty in injury time which Florian Neuhaus converted to snatch an important share of the spoils.
Such a result saw Die Fohlen remain 13th in the Bundesliga, four points above the bottom three with two matches remaining, and they will now set out to confirm their top-flight status with a victory to move out of reach before the final day.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, travel with the need for a victory in their own bid at the other end of the division, having moved within touching distance of sealing a top-six finish ahead of the last two outings.
Following a seventh-placed finish last time around with 50 points on the board, Eintracht Frankfurt find themselves five points short of that tally at this stage but one place better off with their sights on a place in next season’s Europa League after failing to crack the quarter-finals of this year’s Europa Conference League.
Die Adler’s place is only in doubt due to a major dip in form in recent weeks, having only managed one win and five points from their last seven outings after moving onto 40 from 25 with a five-game unbeaten streak culminating in consecutive wins in March.
Their only three-point haul since came at home to Augsburg last month, and Dino Toppmoller‘s side now find themselves on the back of consecutive league defeats, firstly falling just short away at Bayern Munich before most recently suffering a 5-1 thrashing to already-crowned champions Bayer Leverkusen, despite drawing level through Hugo Ekitike in the first half, as Patrik Schick, Exequiel Palacios, Jeremie Frimpong and Victor Boniface went on to put the game out of sight.
As a result of their toughest run of the campaign, Eintracht Frankfurt are yet to guarantee a sixth-placed finish in the German top flight, but with a four-point lead over seventh-placed Freiburg with six left to fight for, they have the chance to move out of sight and book a spot in next year’s Europa League league phase with a return to winning ways.
Borussia Monchengladbach Bundesliga form:
Eintracht Frankfurt Bundesliga form:
Team News
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Borussia Monchengladbach are bound to remain without forward Grant-Leon Ranos and key defender Max Wober through injuries on Saturday, while Christoph Kramer, Tony Jantschke and Shio Fukuda are also set to continue spells on the sidelines.
Robin Hack will continue to lead the line, having netted four of his side’s last five Bundesliga goals including a hat-trick in their 4-3 loss to Hoffenheim and their opener in a draw with Werder Bremen last time out to take his tally to nine for the season in the top flight.
He should again partner Alassane Plea up top, while Julian Weigl continues to play a key role at the base of the midfield in front of a back three of Marvin Friedrich, Ko Itakura and Nico Elvedi.
Eintracht Frankfurt continue to deal with several injury issues of their own, as striker Sasa Kalajdzic remains sidelined alongside Sebastian Rode and Nnamdi Collins.
Dino Toppmoller may opt to make several changes after their heavy defeat last time out, with the likes of Ansgar Knauff, Jean Bahoya, Hugo Larsson and Nacho fighting to earn opportunities from the outset.
The centre-back pairing of Willian Pacho and Robin Koch will remain unaltered, though, while Hugo Ekitike will continue to spearhead the attack having scored in each of his side’s last three league outings.
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Nicolas; Friedrich, Itakura, Elvedi; Weigl; Honorat, Scally, Reitz, Kone; Hack, Plea
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Tuta, Koch, Pacho, Nkounkou; Gotze, Larsson; Bahoya, Chaibi; Ekitike, Marmoush
We say: Borussia Monchengladbach 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
While Eintracht Frankfurt have certainly enjoyed the stronger season, they appear to have lost momentum in recent weeks, and against a Borussia Monchengladbach side showing resilience in their bid to confirm their survival, we anticipate Die Adler having to settle for a share of the spoils at the weekend.
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