Hosts Eintracht Braunschweig will be hoping to cause an upset on Monday, when they face Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt at Eintracht-Stadion in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.
The home side have no points after two league matches in 2024-25 and are currently last in 18th place in Germany's second tier, while the visitors will face Borussia Dortmund on August 24 in their Bundesliga opener.
Match preview
Eintracht Braunschweig were promoted to the second tier after finishing second in the 3. Liga in 2019-20, but, they have finished 15th in both of the last two seasons.
Die Lowen will be concerned with their start to the 2024-25 2. Bundesliga, especially as they have created just three big chances across their two games and have conceded eight goals, the most in the division so far.
In their opening game of the season on August 3, Eintracht Braunschweig lost 5-1 against Schalke 04, and lost 3-1 against Magdeburg in their second on August 11.
Having said that, manager Daniel Scherning will believe that his side can overcome their poor start considering his side are averaging seven shots on target per match, the second most in the league.
Scherning's team were knocked out in the first stage of the DFB-Pokal last season after losing 3-1 against Schalke 04 and have in fact failed to progress from eight of their last 10 ties in the competition.
Opponents Eintracht Frankfurt finished sixth in the Bundesliga in 2023-24 with 47 points, though they earned three points fewer than in 2022-23, a season in which they finished seventh.
The visitors scored 51 goals and conceded 50 times in the league last campaign, and of the 18 teams in the division, this made them the eighth-best offensive and sixth-best defensive side.
Boss Dino Toppmoller, who was previously an assistant coach to Julian Nagelsmann at both RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich, was appointed manager in place of Oliver Glasner in June 2023.
Toppmoller has an overall record of 17 wins, 16 draws and 14 defeats, and his side have won five of their six pre-season fixtures.
Eintracht Frankfurt were eliminated in the round of 16 of the DFB-Pokal after they lost 2-0 against Saarbrucken in December.
The Eagles have also progressed from five of their last seven away matches in the competition.
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Team News
Eintracht Braunschweig will likely experience long periods without the ball, and it would not be surprising if they deployed a back five with three centre-backs to protect their penalty area.
Expect Ermin Bicakcic and Jannis Nikolaou to start in defence, while Robert Ivanov could be the hosts' third central defender.
As for the visitors, they may look to field a mix of experienced players and younger players.
Eintracht Frankfurt could therefore start goalkeeper Kaua dos Santos behind centre-backs Tuta and Robin Koch.
Eintracht Braunschweig possible starting lineup:
Grill; Ivanov, Bicakcic, Nikolaou; Rittmuller, Tauer, Kohler, Bell; Philippe, Szabo, Gomez
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Dos Santos; Kristensen, Tuta, Koch, Brown; Skhiri; Buta, Gotze, Ekitike; Matanovic, Marmoush
We say: Eintracht Braunschweig 0-3 Eintracht Frankfurt
Given the hosts' poor start to the league season, it is difficult to see them posing much of a threat on Monday.
Eintracht Frankfurt could take a first half lead, and if Eintracht Braunschweig open up too early in response, they might struggle to deal with the visitors during counter-attacks.
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