Frankfurt vs. Bayern preview: Eintracht look to bounce back
Rested Bayern head west for Matchday 14 to face a reeling Frankfurt side, who like the Bavarians, were just shocked by Saarbrücken in the DFB-Pokal.
Frankfurt
Frankfurt are without a win in their last five competitive games and haven’t won a Bundesliga match in over a month. They looked lifeless midweek in their 2-0 defeat to 3. Liga side Saarbrücken in which Sporting CEO Markus Krösche criticized their lack of effort.
They’ve been especially struggling in front of goal, having scored only six goals in their previous six contests. Omar Marmoush needs some offensive help, but it’s difficult with players like Ansgar Knauff and Aurelio Buta in support playing in unnatural positions high on the wing.
It doesn’t get any easier against Bayern this weekend, as Frankfurt also have to face in-form sides Leverkusen and Gladbach to close out the calendar year.
In his presser, Dino Toppmöller stated, "We want to show a clear reaction because there hasn't been enough effort in the last two games and we've been outrun and outfought by the opponents. It's about doing the basics on the pitch for 90 minutes."
Team News
Kristijan Jakic, Timothy Chandler, Sebastian Rode, and Ellyes Skhiri are out. Robin Koch and Hugo Larsson are both questionable.
Bayern
Bayern haven’t played in over a week following the postponement of their game against Union Berlin. It provided some much-needed rest for the Bavarian side, who will have Jamal Musiala available once again on the weekend.
Since a loss of their own to Saarbrücken in early November, Bayern haven’t suffered defeat and are right on the heels of Leverkusen in the league table. They must take care of business on the road in Frankfurt on Saturday and avoid looking ahead to games against Man United and Stuttgart next week.
Thomas Tuchel commented, "When I look at Frankfurt, I don't think they've deserved to lose four games in a row. They're a quick and flexible side with a clear identity. What we're seeing isn't reflected in the results.”
Team News
Matthijs de Ligt and Bouna Sarr are both unavailable. Musiala will be in the squad, but Tuchel wouldn’t say whether he would start. He did mention that Musiala won’t play a full 90 minutes.