Eintracht Frankfurt recovered from last week’s debacle in Leipzig with their first home win of the season against Köln.
Younes Ebnoutalib’s late strike secured Eintracht Frankfurt’s first home win of the season at the expense of Köln’s first point away from home.
Both goalkeepers made their first saves of the game inside the first five minutes. A week after conceding six goals in Leipzig, Noah Atubolu was tested by Marius Bülter right from kickoff. Marvin Schwäbe also had to be alert to deal with efforts from Ebnoutalib and Fares Chaïbi.
The Tunisian international had a much better chance at the midpoint of the half after Lilian Brassier’s searching ball found him through on goal, but he wasn’t able to beat Köln’s experienced goalkeeper. Köln’s second chance of the game came from set-piece play as Bülter was thwarted by Atubolu for the second time.
Said El Mala was the derby winner last time out, but his curling effort in the last chance before the break was far from finding the target. Fellow Germany international Ebnoutalib had the first chance after the restart with an off-target header.
Brassier, who played every minute for Frankfurt since joining them from Rennes, was then denied his first Bundesliga goal with a decent save from Schwäbe. The 31-year-old was relieved when Chaïbi directed a free header in his direction a couple of minutes later.
Frankfurt were in total control early in the second-half as Ritsu Doan created both of those chances with pinpoint deliveries. With 20 minutes left on the clock, René Wagner made triple changes, including the introduction of England youth international Mikey Moore.
At the other end, Frankfurt fans would hope Nnamdi Collins’ substitution is nothing more than cautionary after the fullback who returned from a lengthy injury setback felt something on his ankle. After the five substitutions in space of a couple of minutes, Köln seemed to improve with a rare sight of goal.
However, they failed to keep a clean sheet once again as Ebnoutalib and Noel Aseko combined for the opening goal of the game in the 77th minute. The former FC Bayern midfielder spotted Ebnoutalib’s run as the 23-year-old tied Patrik Schick at the top of the scoring chart with his fifth goal of the campaign.
After replacing El Mala, Reigan Heskey tried to create a decent chance with an El Mala-esque run, but his execution was far from the desired level. Schwäbe denied Chaïbi one more time just before injury-time. The hosts held on to their slender lead to momentarily climb to the top half of the standings.
Frankfurt, who kept their first clean sheet after conceding 16 goals in the first five matchdays, will be in action in next week’s Topspiel away at Borussia Dortmund. Köln entertain newly-promoted Schalke 04 as they will hope to maintain their unbeaten home record.
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