Mainz fight for survival as they visit Frankfurt

Mainz manager Achim Beierlorzer will be looking for ”energy, sharpness and determination” from his men as they take on Eintracht Frankfurt in the Commerz-bank Arena on Saturday at 2:30pm GMT.

Mainz are fighting for survival as they sit one point away from relegation and there are very few signs of hope for the Zerofivers as they failed to collect three points from any game since late February. They have conceded nine goals since the league resumption and scored a disappointing three goals.

To add salt to the wound, club star Robin Quaison was not able to get off the mark in the past five games despite the Swedish having found the net 12 times this season, and pressure is mounting on his shoulders as he is expected to be the hero in the closing weeks of the Bundesliga.

Meanwhile, eight points away from a Europa League spot are Eintracht Frankfurt, sitting at 11th and looking to extend their good form as they come from back-to-back wins. The Eagles have the chance to complete a three-match winning streak for the first time during the 2019-20 campaign after defeating Werder Bremen with a comfortable 0-3 away win.

Manager Adolf Hutter will be looking to striker Andre Silva to seal the game off. The Portuguese has scored on eight occasions this season, four of them in the last five games since the resuming of the league.

They remain however without a win in their last three home matches. A substandard Beierlorzer’s men will try and exploit as Mainz were able to pick a point in each of their last two away games against Union Berlin and Koln.

Team news

In terms of the Frankfurt personnel, Goncalo Paciencia who has seven goals under his name remains sidelined.

Nonetheless, they will face Schalke in a tough contest on Wednesday as Hutter confirmed there will be rotations to the squad.

As for Mainz, defender Ridle Baku is suspended meaning we might see Daniel Brosinski at right-back.

Robin Zenter is still injured making room for Florian Muller to stay between the posts.

Eintracht Frankfurt boss talks about his team’s fitness:

”As we demonstrated in Bremen when we were physically superior in the second half. But it is also clear that we have more games than many other teams and also need a powerful team on Wednesday, which is why we will also rotate tomorrow.

Beierlorzer is depending on squad’ spirit:

“Energy and sharpness to fight with everything we have, belief, the ambition to chuck everything at it, even if it’s not going well. That is what we need, then you get rewarded. I am firmly convinced of this,”