Eintracht Frankfurt vs Borussia Dortmund: Jude Bellingham & Co face difficult test

In the standout match of the game week, Eintracht Frankfurt host Borussia Dortmund in the Topspiel slot with Frankfurt in form and Dortmund struggling for consistency as of late. The game also sees fourth versus fifth.

Frankfurt will be going into this game on a good fun of form. In midweek, they beat Marseille 2-1 at home which helped keep their hopes of advancing to the Round of 16 intact. Frankfurt took the lead through Daichi Kamada in the sixth minute before Matteo Guendouzi equalised 15 minutes later. Soon after, Randal Kolo-Muani once again continued his great form as he scored to give Frankfurt the lead in the 27^th minute. Last weekend, Kolo Muani and Jesper Lindstrøm were both pivotal in Frankfurt comfortably beating Borussia Monchengladbach 3-1 at Borussia Park.

Dortmund will be happy with their midweek result as they were able to draw 0-0 with a free scoring Manchester City which saw them qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League. The game saw Mats Hummels put in a man of the match performance highlighting why he could help the German defence at the World Cup. Last weekend, Dortmund beat Stuttgart 5-0 with the highlight being Jude Bellingham scoring twice as well as Giovanni Reyna scoring his first goal in over 400 days.

Dortmund will be without Marco Reus once again as the Frankfurt game comes too soon for the attacking-midfielder who went off with an ankle injury in the Revierderby against Schalke. Edin Terzic also confirmed they will be without Raphael Guerreiro for this game, with Thorgan Hazard possibly playing at left-back.

Dortmund, who showed their defensive capabilities, will have to once again keep out Frankfurt who have the second-best attack in the Bundesliga this season. The likes of the returning Mario Götze, Jesper Lindstrøm and Kolo Muani will cause a lot of issues for a Dortmund defence that have look fragile at times this season.

Frankfurt will hope Kolo Muani continues his form this season. The Frenchman can easily make a case for being one of, if not, the signing of the season in the Bundesliga. He is currently the top assister in the league, and he also earned a call up for France in their recent internationals, so he will definitely be hoping to make the squad for Qatar and with the form he is currently in would be a big exclusion if he didn’t.

Both games last season provided goals. The first meeting between the two saw Dortmund win 5-2 after initially going a goal behind. Then in the second meeting, Dortmund once again won 3-2 with two late goals from Bellingham and Mahmoud Dahoud helping Dortmund come back.

Predicted Line-ups:

Eintracht Frankfurt: Trapp – Tuta, Jakić, Ndicka – Ebimbe, Kamada, Sow, Pellegrini – Lindstrøm, Götze – Kolo Muani

Borussia Dortmund: Kobel – Süle, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Hazard – Bellingham, Özcan – Adeyemi, Brandt, Malen – Moukoko

GGFN | Jack Meenan

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