Preview: Hoffenheim vs. Eintracht Frankfurt - prediction, team news, lineups

Frankfurt trail their opponents in the table by five points, so they will be desperate to make up ground on the European qualification spots.

Match preview

After enduring a few difficult seasons - finishing 11th, ninth and 12th respectively, with last time out being a relegation battle for the most part - Hoffenheim appear to be on the up once again, as they target a European spot for the first time since qualifying for the Europa League in 2020.

Former Stuttgart boss Pellegrino Matarazzo has made an excellent impact at Hoffenheim since taking charge of them in February, overcoming a slow start to emphatically guide them away from the bottom three last season, before winning five matches from seven during the opening weeks of the current Bundesliga campaign.

The most recent of those victories was a 3-2 win away to Werder Bremen prior to the international break, with Marius Bulter snatching all three points for the visitors in the second minute of injury time, less than a minute after Jens Stage had seemingly claimed a draw for his side.

Matarazzo and his players will be hoping for a much less dramatic experience when they host Frankfurt at Rhein-Neckar-Arena on Saturday, especially as winning would see them move above Bayern Munich into the Champions League spots (at least until the Bavarians complete their match against struggling Mainz 05 later in the evening).

Frankfurt, of course, have enjoyed much greater success in recent seasons than their forthcoming opponents, winning the Europa League - and qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in their history as a result - at the end of the 2021-22 campaign, before reaching the knockout stages of Europe's elite competition and the DFB-Pokal final last time out.

However, the chief protagonists of those achievements have both left the club in the form of star striker Randal Kolo Muani - who joined Paris Saint-Germain on transfer deadline day - and their ex-manager Oliver Glasner, with his replacement Dino Toppmoller finding things tougher so far.

The 42-year-old lacks experience at this level, with his main body of work coming as Julian Nagelsmann's assistant manager at RB Leipzig and Bayern. Having endured a winless streak of five league games, he would have felt hugely relieved to see his players defeat newly promoted Heidenheim 2-0 in their most recent fixture prior to the international break.

As has often been the case in recent years, Die Adler have proven to be the draw specialists of the Bundesliga so far this season, with four of their seven league games ending as stalemates. In truth, Toppmoller would likely settle for avoiding defeat against their in-form opponents this weekend.

Hoffenheim Bundesliga form:

W

W

W

W

L

W

Eintracht Frankfurt Bundesliga form:

D

D

D

D

L

W

Eintracht Frankfurt form (all competitions):

D

W

D

L

L

W

Advert - content below:

Team News

Hoffenheim will be without Ozan Kabak, Dennis Geiger and Stanley Nsoki due to injuries, while their talismanic forward Andrej Kramaric is doubtful due to a hip issue which he sustained during his side's defeat to Borussia Dortmund last month.

Kevin Akpoguma is likely to replace Kabak at the heart of the hosts' defence, in what could prove to be Matarazzo's only change from the pulsating victory against Werder Bremen last time out.

Frankfurt, meanwhile, will travel without club captain Sebastian Rode due to a calf injury, while Simon Simoni and Mehdi Loune both remain sidelined with elbow and knee issues respectively.

Mario Gotze should return to the visitors' starting XI after missing out on featuring in the win against Heidenheim due to suspension, meaning Jessic Ngankam could drop down to the bench in order to allow Omar Marmoush to lead the line.

Hoffenheim possible starting lineup:

Baumann; Akpoguma, Brooks, Vog; Kaderabek, Promel, Grillitsch, Stach, Skov; Weghorst, Beier

Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:

Trapp; Tuta, Koch, Pacho; Buta, Larsson, Shkiri, Nkounkou; Gotze, Chaibi; Marmoush

We say: Hoffenheim 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt

Should Kramaric miss out through injury as expected, that would clearly make Hoffenheim less likely to win this match, especially with Frankfurt generally proving tough to beat in any case.

The hosts are yet to draw a match this season, whereas Toppmoller's side have shared the spoils in more than half of their league games, and we can envisage another stalemate between two evenly matched sides.

Previews by email