Lyonvs.Frankfurt

Both enter the first-ever meeting between the two sides in the top eight of the league phase, and are fancied to progress directly to the last 16 of the knockout stage.

Match preview

Lyon and manager Pierre Sage continue to ignore the off-field drama that is currently surrounding the club, maintaining their superb recent run of results that has put them in top-four contention domestically.

Besiktas's win here on matchday three remains their only defeat in 14 games across all competitions, in which time they have won nine.

OL's last three games have all ended in victory by three-goal margins, with the most recent being a very straightforward 3-0 win away to Angers, which kept them within one place and one point of the Champions League places in Ligue 1.

Another route into the Champions League is via this competition, and their performance so far could give them a favourable run later in the knockouts, if they can maintain their current position in the top eight.

Sage's men are seventh, and two more wins should be enough to keep them there, and with a home clash against Ludogorets coming up on matchday eight, that appears very possible at this stage.

The two games before that look very difficult on paper though, facing an impressive Frankfurt side here before going to Fenerbahce in January.

Lyon have won just one of their last six games against German opposition in Europe, and they have lost two of their last three home games in the Europa League - as many as they suffered in their first 23 games on their own patch in the UEL.

Only Lazio and Athletic Bilbao sit above Frankfurt heading into this matchday, and that is just on goal difference, with Dino Toppmoller's men having taken 13 from a possible 15 points so far.

They will feel they should still have a 100% record too, considering their only dropped points came when they threw a 3-1 lead away at home to Viktoria Plzen to draw on matchday one.

Nevertheless, they have continued to impress, winning four in a row in the competition, and equalling Chelsea's all-time unbeaten record in the Europa League of 18 games, a feat they can beat if they avoid defeat once again here.

Concerningly though, Frankfurt have hit a brick wall over the past week, surprisingly losing 3-0 to an out-of-form RB Leipzig in the DFB-Pokal, suffering just a second defeat in 18 games and ending their seven-game winning streak.

That result seemingly affected Toppmoller's side, because they were held in a topsy-turvy 2-2 draw with Augsburg at the weekend, which saw them both trail and lead in the second half, before sharing the spoils, and falling six points behind Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich.

While Lyon's record against German clubs is rather weak, one positive for Frankfurt is that they have won six in a row against French clubs, last failing to win when losing 2-0 to Sochaux in 1980-81.

Lyon Europa League form:

W

W

L

D

W

Lyon form (all competitions):

D

W

D

W

W

W

Eintracht Frankfurt Europa League form:

D

W

W

W

W

Eintracht Frankfurt form (all competitions):

W

W

W

W

L

D

Team News

Just as Sage was able to welcome Wilfried Zaha back from injury at the weekend, coming on as a late substitute in the win over Angers, Said Benrahma picked up a thigh injury and is set to miss the next few games for Lyon.

Gift Orban has also missed the last five matches with injury, and that led Sage to pick his first-choice front three of Alexandre Lacazette, Malick Fofana and Rayan Cherki for the first time in four games against Angers, and it paid off in a comfortable win.

Frankfurt will be without influential young midfielder Hugo Larsson for the next few matches due to a muscle problem, joining Aurele Amenda on the sidelines.

Oscar Hojlund has returned recently after four months out with a broken ankle, but his game time is being managed with three substitute appearances since his comeback.

The man to watch will be Omar Marmoush, with no player having contributed to more Europa League goals than him so far this season (five), edging him closer to beating the finest season by an Egyptian player in the competition, set last season by Mohamed Salah, who scored five and assisted three.

Lyon possible starting lineup:

Lucas Perri; Clinton Mata, Caleta-Car, Niakhate, Abner; Veretout, Tessmann, Tolisso; Cherki, Lacazette, Fofana

Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:

Trapp; Collins, Tuta, Koch, Theate, Nkounkou; Knauff, Dahoud, Chaibi; Ekitike, Marmoush

We say: Lyon 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt

With Lyon having only suffered one defeat in 14, and Frankfurt just two in 19, it is tough to separate two sides that are among the most in form across Europe at present.

Written by

Andrew Delaney

Previews by email