Gladbach vs. Frankfurt preview: Who can push into the Champions League places?
Expect lots of goals as Gladbach and Frankfurt face off at Borussia-Park in an enticing Matchday 11 affair.
Borussia Mönchengladbach
It felt like Gladbach lost twice to Darmstadt in the Pokal this week with several major players lost for the foreseeable future. Goalkeeper Yann Sommer and versatile Jonas Hofmann picked up injuries, which will give way for backup keeper Tobias Sippel to start for the next several weeks.
Combination play between Marcus Thuram and Alassane Plea will be the focal point for Gladbach up front, who have 18 goals through 10 league games. Ramy Bensebaini has also been so good in defense and loves to push forward to help out in attack.
However, contract and injuries issues are beginning to really pile up for Daniel Farke's side, who have started the season well excluding their performance against Werder Bremen.
In a press conference, Farke commented: "We played too many long balls out from the back against Darmstadt. We have to be brave with the ball and find the right solutions in our build up. We'll also do that with Tobi Sippel in goal, but we'll adapt our play a bit. I have full trust in Tobi."
Team News
Sommer and Hofmann are out for at least a few weeks, while Hannes Wolf, Florian Neuhaus and Ko Itakura remain unavailable. Stefan Lainer is now out with a stomach issue and Christoph Kramer is questionable.
Eintracht Frankfurt
Frankfurt somehow haven't won in their last 11 away Bundesliga matches, but did move on to the round of 16 with a Pokal win at Stuttgarter Kickers. Oliver Glasner's side are also coming off a dominating 5-1 win over Leverkusen last weekend in league play.
Potentially this year's Bundesliga signing of the summer, Randal Kolo Muani, has been nearly unstoppable offensively for 5th-place Frankfurt. Daichi Kamada leads the team in goals and while they haven't exactly replaced Filip Kostic's production on the left wing, it hasn't been necessary.
Jesper Lindstrøm is turning into quite the player and Mario Götze has unsurprisingly been a creative, experienced addition to the team.
Glasner stated: “We’re happy to be up there, but we’re not letting ourselves get carried away by being in fifth place. If we maintain our current average of 17 points from 10 games until the end, I can live with that.”
Team News
Aurelio Buta, Makoto Hasebe and Ansgar Knauff are unavailable.