Eintracht Frankfurt vs. 1. FC Heidenheim preview: Riera’s perfect home record against hapless visitors
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Albert Riera will hope to maintain his perfect record at Deutsche Bank Park when Eintracht Frankfurt host Bundesliga’s cellar-dwellers Heidenheim on Saturday. The Eagles are yet to win away from home since the arrival of the Spaniard coach, but they beat Gladbach and Freiburg in front of their fans without conceding a single goal.
On the contrary, Heidenheim have only picked up three points since matchday 13, with their only away point coming at fellow strugglers Wolfsburg. The dramatic 3-3 draw with VfB Stuttgart is the only time they have avoided defeat in the past seven matchdays.
Frank Schmidt’s side are also inferior in head-to-head fixtures against Frankfurt. The 1-1 draw in the reverse encounter is the only time Frankfurt failed to beat their Saturday guests. Budu Zivzivadze’s strike was only their second in this fixture in the Bundesliga, but Rasmus Kristensen salvaged a point for Frankfurt in a game of few chances.
That was one of the disappointing results under Dino Toppmöller for the Champions League hopefuls. The 45-year-old is now replaced by the former Liverpool and Manchester City midfielder at the end of January.
Although there is a possibility for seven teams representing Germany in Europe, Eintracht Frankfurt are already nine points behind sixth-placed Bayer Leverkusen. At the end of the table, Heidenheim need to close a gap of ten points to even secure a relegation playoff spot at the end of the season.
Team News
From Frankfurt’s list of injured players, Can Uzun, Younes Ebnoutalib, and Michy Batshuayi are closing on their return. However, none of them would be options for Saturday’s game. This could be the first game in which the Conteh brothers – Sirlod and Christian – will start together after their promising performances in recent weeks.
Predicted Lineups
Frankfurt: Zetterer; Brown, Amenda, Koch ©, Collins; Larsson; Kalimuendo, Chaibi, Höjlund, Bahoya; Burkardt
Heidenheim: Ramaj; Traoré, Mainka ©, Gimber, Behrens, Schöppner; Kerber, Dinkci, S. Conteh, C. Conteh; Zivzivadze
