Eintracht Frankfurt vs Schalke 04

Eintracht Frankfurt’s bid to secure a Bundesliga top-four finish for the second season in a row continues at the Deutsche Bank Park against dead-last Schalke 04.

A promising run of three straight Bundesliga games without losing on the stroke of the mid-season break (W2, D1) helped Frankfurt soar into the top four, courtesy of a superior goal difference to fifth-placed Union Berlin alone. Therefore, Oliver Glasner’s men have no room for complacency if they’re to build on their eye-catching four-game home league form (W3, L1) and win back-to-back home fixtures in the Bundesliga for only the second time this season. ‘Die Adler’ haven’t lost any of their last ten top-flight home encounters against Schalke (W6, D4), meaning this could be a walk in the park. But they are all too aware of their only previous Bundesliga clash against a team starting the matchday bottom of the table this term, going down 3-0 to Bochum on Gameweek 9.

On the other hand, rock-bottom Schalke suffered a comfortable 2-0 home defeat to Bayern Munich on the eve of the World Cup break, heading into the mid-season pause as the only Bundesliga side yet to hit double-digits this term (9). Stuck five points adrift of safety, the visitors have lost a league joint-high 67% of their top-flight matches this season (10/15) and are still waiting for their first victory on the road (D2, L5). Indeed, Thomas Reis’ men have lost their last four away league outings by an aggregate score of 9-2. Those losses form part of Schalke’s humiliating run of 35 Bundesliga away matches without winning (D10, L25) and could become the first-ever side to go winless on 36 straight top-flight travels.