Our Kapapula(Prediction) is; Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Borussia Dortmund’s pursuit of first-placed Bayern München and the Bundesliga title resumes on Saturday at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK against an Eintracht Frankfurt side who have hopes of staying in the hunt for a place in the Conference League Qualifiers.
Borussia Dortmund are in second place on 57 points, two points behind Bayern München at the top of the table with six matches left. Fifth-placed Freiburg, the first club outside of the Champions League spots, are seven points behind Dortmund. Dortmund played out a 3-3 draw in their last Bundesliga match at Mercedes-Benz-Arena against Stuttgart.
Eintracht Frankfurt played out a 1-1 draw against Borussia M’gladbach at Deutsche Bank Park in their last Bundesliga match to extend their winless streak to seven (W0 D4 L3), putting them in seventh place on 42 points. Die Adler trail sixth-placed Bayer Leverkusen by two points for a spot in the Conference League Qualifiers.
The previous Bundesliga fixture between the sides saw Dortmund win 2-1 at Deutsche Bank Park in October. Julian Brandt opened the scoring for Dortmund in the 20th minute. Jude Bellingham also found the net. Daichi Kamada scored the lone goal for die Adler in the 26th minute.
Dortmund have got the better of Frankfurt of late with wins in three straight clashes, dating to August 2021. Dortmund have outscored die Adler 10-5 during their winning streak.
Delving into the stats for 2022/2023, Dortmund have been led by Brandt, Youssoufa Moukoko, and Gio Reyna. Brandt is their top scorer with eight goals, followed by Moukoko with seven and Reyna with six.
Eintracht Frankfurt’s talisman in front of goal has been Randal Kolo Muani, who has scored on 13 occasions. The striker is tied for second in the league’s scoring charts in 2022/2023.
Hosts Dortmund have been tough to beat at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK this season with 11 wins, one draw, and just one loss in 13 Bundesliga contests.
Dortmund are in the midst of an 11-match home unbeaten streak (W10 D1 L0) dating to September 2022 against Hoffenheim. Frankfurt have four wins, five draws, and five losses away from home this season in league matches. Die Adler are looking to reverse an eight-match away winless streak (W0 D4 L4). The last time they won away was November 2022 against Augsburg.
In their last six league matches, Dortmund have won three, drawn two and lost one. Frankfurt, meanwhile, have drawn four and lost two in their last six.
BVB were the last team to stop the Bavarians from winning the Bundesliga when Jurgen Klopp guided them to successive titles between 2010 and 2012, with Edin Terzic’s side looking like the most capable Dortmund team of ending over a decade of hurt at times this season.
However, with Bayern surprisingly dropping two points at home to Hoffenheim last weekend, Dortmund would have been kicking themselves by doing the exact same thing after playing out a pulsating 3-3 draw away to relegation-threatened Stuttgart.
The victory looked to be in the bag when Sebastien Haller and Donyell Malen provided the visitors with a two-goal cushion inside 33 minutes, especially when Konstantinos Mavropanos was given his marching orders six minutes later.
However, Stuttgart rallied to equalise through quickfire strikes from Tanguy Coulibaly and Joshua Vagnoman, before Giovanni Reyna scored what appeared to be his third injury-time winner already this calendar year. Sensationally, though, there was room for more drama still as Silas claimed a point for his side in the seventh minute of added time.
Throwing away a two-goal lead in the midst of a title race is one thing, but to do so against 10 men is another matter altogether, and Terzic will be desperately hoping that his players can pick themselves back up against Frankfurt this weekend.
Given that only Hertha Berlin and Werder Bremen have collected fewer points than Frankfurt in the last six match days of Bundesliga action, Dortmund appear to be facing Oliver Glasner’s side at the best possible moment of the campaign.
Die Adler’s hopes of competing in the Champions League for a second successive season appear to be over after their 1-1 draw at home against Borussia Monchengladbach last time out, with fourth-placed RB Leipzig opening up a nine-point gap ahead of them with only 18 possible points to play for.
Things could have been worse had Randal Kolo Muani not continued his sensational form by bagging an 83rd-minute equaliser to cancel out Jonas Hofmann’s early effort, with Frankfurt remaining in seventh place ahead of Mainz 05 on goal difference in the process.
Ultimately, though, Frankfurt will understandably have at least one eye on their trip to Stuttgart in their DFB-Pokal semi-final meeting on May 3, with Glasner hoping to help the club become the joint-second most successful team in the history of that competition, while adding to their Europa League triumph after beating Rangers in last season’s final.
However, Glasner will be urging his players to ensure that they head into that semi-final with some momentum and confidence on their side, especially with Stuttgart proving how dangerous that they can be against Frankfurt’s forthcoming opponents last weekend.
Dortmund could have a serious defensive injury crisis on their hands, with centre-backs Mats Hummels, Niklas Sule and Nico Schlotterbeck all doubts to start against Frankfurt.
However, Hummels and Sule should be able to shake off their respective muscle issues, with Schlotterbeck likely to be back in contention by the end of April.
Thomas Meunier, Mateu Morey and Julian Duranville have all been ruled out for at least another matchday, with Terzic unlikely to make any changes to his front line after scoring three goals despite dropping points in their last match.
Frankfurt, meanwhile, will travel without Kristijan Jakic, Philipp Max, Hrvoje Smolcic, Almamy Toure and Jesper Lindstrom due to injuries, but Evan Ndicka could be passed fit to be able to return after recovering from his recent muscle strain.
Mario Gotze also missed his side’s draw against Gladbach through suspension and should return to the visitors’ starting XI to face his former club, with Rafael Borre likely to make way having filled into a slighter deeper role than he would prefer.
Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Kobel; Ryerson, Sule, Hummels, Guerreiro; Bellingham, Can, Brandt; Malen, Haller, Adeyemi
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Tuta, Hasebe, Ndicka; Buta, Rode, Sow, Lenz; Kamada, Gotze; Kolo Muani
