Eintracht Frankfurt host Werder Bremen on Saturday with the two sides level on eight points after five games in the early stages of the 2020-21 Bundesliga season.
Frankfurt will be looking to recover from their 5-0 demolition at the hands of Bayern Munich, with Bremen looking to get back to winning ways after two consecutive draws.
Match preview
Frankfurt are not the first side to be hammered by Bayern this season and they almost certainly will not be the last given the Bavarians' superiority over the majority of the Bundesliga and perhaps Europe as a whole at present. Nonetheless, Adi Hutter will have been disappointed with his side's meek defending at times.
Robert Lewandowski's perfect hat-trick was stunning, but it was characterised by him being afforded too much space by Frankfurt's central defenders in each of the goals. Leroy Sane was also allowed to cut inside onto his preferred left foot too easily before punishing his opponents by smashing the ball into the top left corner of Kevin Trapp's goal.
After taking seven points from their opening three matches, Frankfurt now have only one point from their last two, so they will be determined to get back to winning ways against a Bremen side they will be expecting to comfortably finish above this season.
Andre Silva and Bas Dost will certainly be awaiting better service than in the defeat to Bayern, with the pair on five league goals between them this season.
Florian Kohfeldt will be pleased with his side's start, winning two and drawing two of their opening five matches, having only survived relegation via a playoff against Heidenheim last season.
Bremen got themselves off to a fantastic start against Hoffenheim at the weekend, with experienced defender Gebre Selassie's energetic run and cross from the right flank expertly converted by Maximilian Eggestein's first-time left-footed strike into the bottom corner. However, Hoffenheim's Dennis Geiger went one better with a brilliant curling effort into the top corner, with the visitors having the better of the game from that point onwards and Bremen clinging onto a second consecutive 1-1 draw.
Perhaps the biggest talking point of the match from a Bremen perspective was the loss of top goalscorer Niclas Fullkrug in the first half, with the 27-year-old's calf injury likely to keep him out for a month.
Milot Rashica returned to Bremen's bench at the weekend but was an unused substitute, so Kohfeldt will be hoping he can rely on the Kosovan forward to step up in Fullkrug's absence, as he did so well last season.
Eintracht Frankfurt Bundesliga form: DWWDL
Eintracht Frankfurt form (all competitions): WDWWDL
Werder Bremen Bundesliga form: LWWDD
Werder Bremen form (all competitions): DLWWDD
Team News
Hutter has several players unavailable for the match against Bremen, with creative winger Filip Kostic still injured with a ligament fissure.
Felix Irorere and Jetro Willems are lacking match fitness, with David Abraham and Ragnar Ache out with knee and hamstring injuries respectively.
Fullkrug will be unable to lead the line for Bremen until at least after the international break, with Kohfeldt confirming his striker could be out for up to a month.
It remains to be seen whether Rashica is fit to start, but Ludwig Augustinsson (thigh), David Selke (groin), Patrick Erras (hamstring) and Felix Agu (coronavirus) join Fullkrug on the sidelines in a mounting list of absentees.
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Tuta, Hasebe, Hinteregger; Toure, Ilsanker, Rode, Zuber; Kamada; Dost, Silva
Werder Bremen possible starting lineup:
Pavlenka; Veljkovic, Moisander, Friedl; Gebre-Selassie, Eggestein, Gross, Mborn; Sargent, Bittencourt; Rashica
We say: Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 Werder Bremen
With Bremen missing Fullkrug and Rashica's fitness unclear, we think Frankfurt carry the greater goal threat in what could be a fairly open encounter. Silva and Dost will be desperate to get back to goalscoring ways having been starved of service at Bayern, and it would be little surprise to see both scoring in a home win.
