Eintracht Frankfurt will try and regain some stability when they face SC Freiburg

The Bundesliga’s first round of midweek games since the restart sees a struggling Eintracht Frankfurt side host SC Freiburg, who still retain hopes of breaking into the Europa League places.

It’s been a difficult start for both sides though since the league kicked off again. It took Frankfurt just 37 seconds in their opening match to fall behind to Borussia Monchengladbach, eventually going down 3-1.

Their second game saw another defeat against – 5-2 against an imperious Bayern Munich side. Defender Martin Hinteregger’s two quick fire set piece goals brought his total up to nine for the season, making him Frankfurt’s top goalscorer. Worryingly for the hosts, they are currently enduring a run of five straight league defeats.

Visiting Freiburg have also endured a tough restart to the Bundesliga. They faced high flying RB Leipzig in their opening match and despite being put under heavy pressure by Julien Nagelsmann’s side, held out for a point and were even denied a last minute winner by an excruciatingly tight offside call.

This result was followed by a highly disappointing 1-0 defeat to Werder Bremen, who currently occupy a place in the relegation zone. Freiburg will be hoping to bounce back quickly to hold on to the possibility of achieving a European place.

Team news

Frankfurt remain without Goncalo Paciencia, their highest scoring attacker this season with seven goals. The Portuguese forward was joint top scorer with Hinteregger until the defender’s brace over the weekend. Aside from this, the hosts should have a full squad available, although the loss of Paciencia due to a thigh injury continues to be a big one.

Freiburg are without any major injury concerns, although do have a few players doubtful for tonight’s match. Midfielder Janik Haberer and young defender Robin Koch picked up knocks over the weekend, while forward Luca Waldschmidt remains on the fringes after struggles with an ankle injury.

Frankfurt manager Adi Hutter has expressed his worries over the effects of playing behind closed doors on his team

“We don’t have to keep going on about the fact that our fans always have a keen sense of being there for us at the right time.

“We also aren’t whining because all teams are in the same situation but teams with a high level of technical quality in particular are less dependent on support.

“It has little impact on the top teams, but it has a big impact on a lot of teams like us.”

Despite this, Hutter assured that he is confident in his players to get the results necessary for their survival, saying: “I want to make it clear that we’re confident in the quality of the players. In order to pick up points it’s important to have belief, faith and confidence in our squad.”

SC Freiburg manager Christian Streich is unhappy with his sides chance conversion

“On average, we have scored only 0.8 goals in the second half of the season, compared to just under 1.6 in the first half of the season, even though we’ve had almost as many shots on goal and chances.

“You can’t force it, but we need more conviction.”

Streich also warned of a potential reaction from Frankfurt after their 5-2 defeat against Bayern Munich, saying: “They’re going to attack us now.

“That they lose in Munich it’s normal, but not against us.”

Head-to-head

Freiburg’s 1-0 victory over Frankfurt earlier this season in November 2019 was their first since 2017. They managed just two goals in four games during that period.

Overall, both Freiburg and Frankfurt have been relatively evenly matched over the years – with Frankfurt claiming 15 wins to Freiburg’s 13.