Hertha Berlin will be looking to make it two wins from two in the 2020-21 Bundesliga campaign when they play host to Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday.
The capital outfit cruised to a 4-1 victory over Werder Bremen on the opening weekend, whereas Frankfurt were held to a draw by newly-promoted Arminia Bielefeld.
Match preview
Seeking to put things right following their early DFB-Pokal exit at the hands of Eintracht Braunschweig, Hertha managed to put their cup woes behind them as they overcame Werder Bremen with ease last weekend.
Several years ago, Bremen would have been expected to march to victory in this tie. However, goals from Peter Pekarik, Matheus Cunha, Dodi Lukebakio and Jhon Cordoba saw Hertha pick up their first three points of the season in dominant fashion.
Bruno Labbadia's side are certainly not expected to occupy a spot in the top three by the end of the season, but the Hertha manager will no doubt be encouraged by his side's positive start to the new campaign.
Hertha only lost one of their final five homes games of the 2019-20 Bundesliga campaign, but that solitary defeat was to Frankfurt, so Labbadia's men have an extra motivation to lay down a marker and record a second straight victory at this early stage of the season.
Meanwhile, Frankfurt would have also been anticipating a winning start to the season against Arminia Bielefeld, but last season's 2.Bundesliga champions proved that they are capable of mixing with the big boys.
Arminia took the lead through Cebio Soukou after 51 minutes, and it took an Andre Silva header for Frankfurt to rescue a point in a game where they could have taken all three on another day.
Adi Hutter will certainly see view the opening-day draw as two points lost rather than one point gained, but Frankfurt will be raring to go again as they bid to return to European football this season.
While there is no reason for Hutter's side to panic at all after just one game, Frankfurt missed out on Europa League qualification by a mere four points last season, so turning draws into wins will be of paramount importance for Die Adler as the season gathers pace.
As previously mentioned, Frankfurt enjoyed a 4-1 victory over Hertha in this encounter last season, with the corresponding fixture at Frankfurt ending in a 2-2 stalemate.
Hertha Berlin Bundesliga form: W
Hertha Berlin form (all competitions): LW
Eintracht Frankfurt Bundesliga form: D
Eintracht Frankfurt form (all competitions): WD
Team News
Hertha are expected to stick with the majority of the starting lineup that got the job done against Bremen, although Santiago Ascacibar and Javairo Dilrosun remain absent.
Cordoba marked his debut for Hertha Berlin in perfect fashion with an opening-day goal, and the Colombian will hope to have done enough to replace Krzysztof Piatek up top.
As for Frankfurt, the visitors have confirmed that Evan N'Dicka will be sidelined for several weeks with a high ankle sprain.
However, fellow defender Jetro Willems has returned to training eight months after suffering a cruciate ligament rupture while on loan at Newcastle United.
Hutter is unlikely to make wholesale changes for gameweek two, but Djibril Sow and Steven Zuber are among those vying for starts.
Hertha Berlin possible starting lineup:
Schwolow; Pekarik, Boyata, Torunarigha, Mittelstadt; Tousart, Stark, Darida; Cunha; Lukebakio, Cordoba
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Abraham, Hinteregger, Hasebe; Da Costa, Kohr, Rode, Kostic; Kamada; Dost, Silva
We say: Hertha Berlin 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Hertha will be buoyed by their opening day victory, although Bremen are a side in disarray at the moment, so the hosts should not be getting carried away just yet. Frankfurt could and probably should have scored more against Arminia last weekend, but Hertha undoubtedly have a better quality of players than the newly-promoted side, so we are expecting the two clubs to walk away with a point apiece on Friday.
Top betting tip
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