Matchday 26 in German Bundesliga that will feature this weekend is full of very interesting matchups. One of those is the match that will take place in Frankfurt between Eintracht and Borussia Monchengladbach. Both teams have been struggling lately, especially the hosts who are without a victory in over their last seven games in the league. Borussia on the other side is coming off from two consecutive defeats. We’ll see how this week plays out for each team.
EINTRACHT FRANKFURT vs. BORUSSIA MONCHENGLADBACH
3-Way: 1: Eintracht Frankfurt +170; X: +231 Draw; B. Monchengladbach +200
Spread 0: Frankfurt 111; B. Monchengladbach +112
Total 2.5: Over +127; Under -135
Eintracht Frankfurt won the last game in the league on February 5th. Since then, they have managed to record five consecutive defeats and a draw against Hamburger SV at home in the last Round. On Saturday, sold out Commerzbank Arena with 51.000 fans will surely demand a better performance and a positive result. Team used the international break to take some rest and prepare for the remainder of the season and it will be interesting to see if they can raise their form. Currently, they rank seventh in the league table with 36 points in 25 games. They are 2-1-5 in the last eight games and 1-1-2 in the last four home games. Eintracht ranks eighth in the home league table with 22 of 36 possible points and a 6-4-2 record and 17-11 goal difference (26-27 overall). 50% of their home matches are over 2.5 goals and most common results at home are 2-1, 1-0 and 0-0 (all occurred for two times so far). Alexander Meier tops the team in scoring this season with five goals while Branimir Hrgota and Marco Fabian have four and three goals on their account. Marco Fabian tops the team in assists with four while five players collected two assists. Bastian Oczipka and Makoto Hasebe have most passes so far with 940 and 838.
Makoto Hasebe (Knee injury) and Yanni Regasel (Hip injury) are out for the season. Omar Mascarell (Achilles tendon injury) and Marco Fabian (Thigh injury) are both doubtful for Saturday matchup. Slobodan Medojevic’s (Knee injury) status is unknown while Guillermo Varela (Ankle injury) and Soares de Oliveira Anderson are both back in training and should be available to head coach Niko Kovac.
Borussia Monchengladbach head coach Dieter Hecking said during his press conference that the international break also had a good effect on his players. Borussia had a very busy schedule prior to this break with fifteen matches in very small period of time and fatigue started to take its toll. Important news for coach Hecking was the decision of one of his star players, Mahmoud Dahoud to leave the club in the summer and sign for Borussia Dortmund. Both team and the player reached an agreement and there shouldn’t be much drama about this move but it remains to see if it will have some effect on the team as a whole. Monchengladbach ranks 10th on the league table with 32 points in 25 games. They are 5-0-3 in the last eight games including the last two straight defeats. On the road they are 3-0-1 in the last four games and 3-2-7 overall. They scored 10 and conceded 22 goals on the road this season (30-34 overall). 50% of their away games were over 2.5 goals. They play better at home as 66% of their points have been earned in Monchengladbach but have in mind that all three away victories came in the last four away games meaning that they are finally finding a right recipe for their road play. Another interesting fact is that Monchengladbach doesn’t have two road games that finished with same result. All 12 road games had a different result. On the away table, Borussia ranks 12th with 11 of 36 possible points earned. Lars Stindl tops the team in goals this year with seven. Raffael scored six while Thorgan Hazard has five goals on his account. Leaders in assists are Mahmoud Dahoud and Cristoph Kramer with four each. Kramer and Jannik Vestergaard have most passes so far with 1075 and 1030.
List of injured players is long but there is some good news as most of the players have light injuries and will be available to coach Hecking very soon. Mamadou Doucure (Thigh injury) is out for the season while Cristoph Kramer (Knee injury) will be available in late April. Mahmoud Dahoud (Muscle injury) and Fabian Johnson (Thigh injury) should be back in couple of days while Lars Stindl (Hip injury) is doubtful for Saturday. Moritz Nicolas (Broken arm) and Joel Mero (Broken leg) are day to day. Marvin Schulz (Groin injury), Ibrahima Traore (Groin injury) and Tsiy William Ndenge are back in training.
Both teams had some bad results lately and they will probably enter this game very carefully. Personally, I think that the visitors could pull an upset here, but considering the poor form of both teams, I expect the defensive units to control the game on both sides of the pitch. With that being said, I am daring to pick the Under offered at -135.
MY PICK: Under 2.5 goals (-135)
