FC Koln welcome Eintracht Frankfurt to the RheinEnergieStadion on Saturday afternoon needing just one point to retain their Bundesliga status for another 12 months.
Meanwhile, Frankfurt realistically require maximum points from their remaining two matches in order to give themselves any chance of qualifying for the Europa League.
Match preview
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Having recorded four wins from five games, Frankfurt boss Adi Hutter will be frustrated that his team have waited this long to deliver their best form of the season.
Although their most recent results have ensured that a relegation battle never materialised, Frankfurt are running out of games to achieve an unlikely place in the Europa League.
Fixtures against lowly Koln and Paderborn are ideal at this stage, and victories over those two opponents may prove decisive come the end of the campaign.
However, to achieve sixth spot, Frankfurt require Wolfsburg, Hoffenheim and Freiburg to fail to win either of their respective double-headers over the next two weekends.
From an individual perspective, the biggest plus for Hutter since the resumption has been the form of AC Milan loanee Andre Silva, who has netted seven times from nine appearances in all competitions.
While Frankfurt have been outstanding in recent weeks, the same cannot be said of Koln, who look like staying in the top flight due to the disappointing form of the teams below them.
Despite having failed to record a single win since the resumption, Markus Gisdol's team remain six points above the the relegation playoff spot.
Gisdol will still have ambitions of finishing as high as possible, and success over Frankfurt and Werder Bremen may be enough to conclude the campaign in the top half of the table.
Nevertheless, with 15 goals being conceded in their last six outings, Gisdol may be satisfied that the season will have ended by the end of the month, aware that talks need to be held behind the scenes.
FC Koln Bundesliga form: DLLDLL
Eintracht Frankfurt Bundesliga form: DWWLWW
Eintracht Frankfurt form (all competitions): WWLLWW
Team News
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Koln are boosted by the return of Sebastiaan Bornauw and Dominick Drexler, who have recently been sidelined through suspension.
However, because of knee injuries, Marcel Risse and Simon Terodde remain as the sole players absent from the squad at the weekend.
As for Frankfurt, they will have to do without Daichi Kamada after the defender picked up his fifth yellow card in the last match.
Goncalo Paciencia is pushing for a recall to the starting lineup after a spell out of contention due to a muscle injury.
FC Koln possible starting lineup:
Horn; Ehizibue, Czichos, Bornauw, Katterbach; Skhiri, Hector; Drexler, Uth, Jakobs; Cordoba
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Abraham, Hinteregger, Ndicka; Costa, Kohr, Rode, Kostic; Gacinovic; Dost, Silva
We say: FC Koln 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt
Given their contrasting form, we see this game only ending one way. Added with the possibility of the home side perhaps being tentative due to a lack of confidence, Frankfurt should be able to capitalise for their fifth win since the resumption.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Eintracht Frankfurt win with a probability of 38.43%. A win for FC Koln had a probability of 37.4% and a draw had a probability of 24.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Eintracht Frankfurt win was 1-2 with a probability of 8.47%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (7.39%) and 0-2 (5.64%). The likeliest FC Koln win was 2-1 (8.33%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.09%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.1% likelihood.
