Eintracht Frankfurt will be hoping to use their remarkable progression to the semi-finals of the Europa League as a much-needed boost in the race for European qualification in the Bundesliga.
They visit Union Berlin on Sunday, who are in a much healthier position thanks to back-to-back victories, including a thumping derby win last weekend.
Match preview
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After previously suffering five defeats and picking up just one win in seven Bundesliga outings recently, Union looked to be falling away in the race for the top six.
However, after bouncing back with a narrow 1-0 victory over fellow European hopefuls FC Koln, Die Eisernen followed that up with a resounding 4-1 triumph at the home of their city rivals Hertha Berlin last weekend.
Genki Haraguchi provided them with a first-half lead during a dominant display in the opening 45 minutes, and despite being pegged back shortly after the break through an own goal from Timo Baumgartl, goals from Grischa Promel, Sheraldo Becker and Sven Michel sealed a well-deserved derby victory.
Those successive wins have lifted Urs Fischer's side up to seventh in the table ahead of matchday 30 this weekend, with only goal difference keeping them below out-of-form Hoffenheim in the final European spot.
With only Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich defeating Union at the An der Alten Forsterei in the league since the opening weekend of last season, the hosts stand a good chance of breaking into the top six come the end of play on Sunday.
Potentially securing continental qualification in back-to-back seasons is not the only success that Union could achieve this season too, with one eye perhaps being kept on their trip to RB Leipzig in the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal on Wednesday.
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Meanwhile, despite a stuttering run of form domestically, Frankfurt head to the capital on Sunday full of confidence thanks to their thrilling 3-2 victory over Barcelona on Thursday evening.
Having held the Catalan side to a 1-1 draw back at the Deutsche Bank Park in the first leg, expectations were low when Oliver Glasner's side made the trip to the Camp Nou, but a fantastic counter-attacking performance saw them progress to the semi-finals of the Europa League.
A Filip Kostic brace, and a goal from Rafael Santos Borre in between, saw Die Adler take a resounding 3-0 lead midway through the second half, before late goals from Sergio Busquets and Memphis Depay in injury time removed some of the shine off their display.
A last-four tie with West Ham United awaits later this month, but Frankfurt must quickly turn their attentions back to the Bundesliga this weekend.
Unless Sunday's visitors can take their outstanding European displays into their domestic outings, then their only hope of continental qualification for next season will be via the lifting of the Europa League trophy.
Just two wins in their last eight Bundesliga fixtures are the reason for this, with the 2-1 home defeat to fellow European hopefuls Freiburg last weekend significantly damaging their chances.
That setback has left Frankfurt in ninth place at the time of writing, five points adrift of Hoffenheim and Union in sixth and seventh respectively, and with many of the challengers in action on Saturday, their task could well look all the more difficult come kick off at the An der Alten Forsterei.
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Team News
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Union look set to recall first-choice goalkeeper Andreas Luthe to their starting 11 on Sunday, despite the deputising Frederik Ronnow playing his part in the back-to-back wins in the former's absence through a muscular injury.
Paul Jaeckel is also back available after sitting out last weekend's derby win due to a one-match suspension, and he is expected to slot back into the back three in the place of Dominique Heintz.
However, Keita Endo and Anthony Ujah remain doubts due to a leg injury and illness respectively, although Fischer has no further injury concerns to contend with.
As for the visitors, Tuta should return to the starting 11 following his one-match European suspension in midweek, whilst Evan N'Dicka's late red card at the Camp Nou does not apply to Sunday's encounter.
Djibril Sow remains a slight doubt due to a knee problem that kept him sidelined in midweek, with Christopher Lenz also continuing to suffer from a calf injury too.
The latter is also labelled as a doubt, but backup goalkeeper Diant Ramaj is definitely absent once more.
Other than the recall of Tuta to the three-man back line, very few other changes, if any, are expected to Glasner's starting lineup following his side's midweek heroics.
Union Berlin possible starting lineup:
Luthe; Jaeckel, Knoche, Baumgartl; Trimmel, Haraguchi, Khedira, Promel, Giesselmann; Becker, Awoniyi
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Tuta, Hinteregger, N'Dicka; Knauff, Jakic, Rode, Kostic; Lindstrom, Kamada; Borre
We say: Union Berlin 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
This game is a difficult one to call due to both sides being so evenly matched, but with Frankfurt enduring a tiring away trip to Spain just three days prior to this fixture, we are going for a narrow home victory.
Union have a fantastic record at their An der Alten Forsterei fortress, and with the visitors being a disappointing outfit domestically in recent weeks, the hosts should be able to build on their successive wins to further boost their top-six hopes at the expense of their opponents.
Top tip
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 Union Berlin win with a probability of 46.13%. A win for Eintracht Frankfurt had a probability of 28.55% and a draw had a probability of 25.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Union Berlin win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.43%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.24%) and 2-0 (8.01%). The likeliest Eintracht Frankfurt win was 0-1 (7.83%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.03%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with an 8% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Union Berlin would win this match.
