Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund are separated by a solitary point in the Bundesliga table as they prepare to do battle at the Deutsche Bank Park on Saturday.
As we head into Matchday 12, fourth-place Frankfurt lead fifth-place Dortmund – with first-place Union Berlin just three points clear of Frankfurt.
With only seven points between the top ten sides, Saturday’s clash is a good opportunity for both Frankfurt and Dortmund to close the gap on the frontrunners.
When Frankfurt failed to win any of their first three Bundesliga games, things looked pretty bleak for Oliver Glasner’s men. But they managed to turn things around.
Since then, Eintracht have won six of their previous eight league outings – seeing off Werder Bremen, RB Leipzig, Stuttgart, Union Berlin, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Monchengladbach.
In addition to scoring over 2.5 goals in five of their six wins this season, they have scored over 3.5 goals on three occasions. Consequently, they are the league’s second-highest scorers.
Frankfurt head into Saturday’s clash on the back of a 2-1 victory over Marseille in the Europa League. As a result, they remain in contention for the knockout phase.
As for Dortmund, they have struggled for consistency in the Bundesliga – registering six wins, one draw and four defeats this season.
After winning five of their opening seven clashes, BVB endured a three-game winless run before returning to winning ways with a 5-0 thrashing of Stuttgart last weekend.
It is worth noting that Dortmund have the second-worst defensive record in the top seven, having conceding 14 goals in 11 games.
Although they managed to hold Manchester City to a goalless draw in the Champions League in midweek, they could struggle to deal with Frankfurt’s attacking firepower.
Head-to-head: Frankfurt have only managed to win one of their last 11 Bundesliga meetings with Dortmund.
Given that ten of the previous 12 league meetings between Frankfurt and Dortmund have produced over 2.5 goals, we are set for a high-scoring encounter on Saturday.
Team news: Frankfurt’s injury list contains Ansgar Knauff (hamstring), Makoto Hasebe (medial collateral ligament) and Aurelio Buta (knee).
On the flip side, Dortmund would be without as many as seven first-team players this weekend – including Sebastien Haller, Marco Reus and Thomas Meunier.
Although Dortmund have enjoyed facing Frankfurt in recent years, it is difficult to ignore the fact that Frankfurt have won six of their past eight Bundesliga games.
For that reason, Forebet predicts that Frankfurt will pick up their third consecutive league victory on Saturday – scoring over 2.5 goals in the process.