Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Schalke preview: Do the Royal Blues stand a chance?
Schalke visit the Deutsch Bank Park to try and slow down a high-flying Frankfurt side and inch their way out of the relegation zone.
| Thomas Reis | FC Schalke 04 |
Eintracht Frankfurt
The lengthy winter break came at an unfortunate time for Eintracht who were playing some really impressive football. They’re up to 4th in the table and have the second-best scoring offense in the Bundesliga.
Randal Kolo Muani should still be riding high after his sensational World Cup with France following an unbelievable autumn campaign. He is surrounded by great company with several excellent attacking options in Daichi Kamada, Mario Götze and Jesper Lindstrøm.
Kevin Trapp is staying put in goal after being linked with a move to Bayern over the break, as Frankfurt set away towards a huge 2023 with major Champions League ramifications.
In his press conference, Oliver Glasner shared, "We’re not interested in the table. It's about bringing our game plan and energy onto the pitch. I think we’ll need a few games to get back into shape, but the players are welcome to give me a nice surprise."
Team News
Tuta, Luca Pellegrini and Marcel Wenig are out Saturday with injuries. American Paxten Aaronson (brother of Leeds United’s Brenden Aaronson) was brought into the club, but it’s unclear whether he’ll see game action in the second half of the season.
Schalke
Even with more than half a season left to play, it already feels like it’s now or never for Thomas Reis and Schalke. The newly-promoted side looked lifeless to begin the campaign and they haven’t exactly eased concerns in the transfer window thus far.
Schalke are still dealing with hefty injury issues which became even worse when Sebastian Polter went down in training a few days ago. Jere Uronen, Soichiro Kozuki and Niklas Tauer provide some badly-needed fresh blood to the side as all three could see significant playing time going forward.
Schalke have only tallied 13 goals in 15 games to produce just 9 measly points. Another potentially devastating move down to the second tier awaits.
Reis recently said, "I still hope that we can bring in more players. There are a lot of things that play a role in a transfer nowadays. If we sign a player, they need to be ready to help us right away."
Team News
Polter, Tauer, Alex Kral, Maya Yoshida, Leo Greiml, Justin Heekeren, Sepp van den Berg and Rodrigo Zalazar are all likely to miss out this weekend. Dominick Drexler and Marcin Kaminski are also questionable.
