Eintracht Frankfurt vs Bayer Leverkusen Predictions, Betting Tips, & Match Preview

Frankfurt’s 16th placed relegation play-off position finish was a surprise for many in the 2015/2016 season after their 9th place finish the season prior. Frankfurt narrowly avoided relegation with a 2-1 aggregate win over 2. Bundesliga side FC Nurnberg in the playoffs and their opening DFB Pokal (German League Cup) first round match wasn’t the most promising performance ahead of the new season – Frankfurt scraped through on penalties after 3. Liga side FC Magdeburg held them to a 1-1 draw during regular time. Frankfurt silenced the doubters in their opening 1-0 win at home to Schalke however, where they were decent defensively and dangerous going forward. Unfortunately for the hosts, momentum wasn’t on their side last weekend. A 90th minute goal against the run of play saw Frankfurt defeated 1-0 away to Hessen derby rivals Darmstadt, a result which no doubt particularly stings. Niko Kovac’s side will be keen to get back to winning ways.

Bayer Leverkusen will be hoping for more magic from Finnish super-sub Joel Pohjanpalo as they travel to face Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. The 21-year-old is joint-top scorer in the Bundesliga, tallying four goals so far this season, all of which he has scored off the bench. Last week, his rapid-fire hat-trick gave Leverkusen a late 3-1 win over Hamburger SV, but he faces stiff competition for a starting position moving forwards with Kevin Volland back in contention after his short injury spell. Though coach Roger Schmidt has forged a team that aren’t only solid at the back – only Bayern and Dortmund conceded fewer last season – but also break forward at pace on the counter-attack, he’s having a tough time with squad selection and form at the moment due to an injury plague. Leverkusen also squandered a 2-0 lead in their 2-2 draw at home to CSKA Moscow in their opening UEFA Champions League group stage match on Wednesday. Moscow caught Leverkusen off guard scoring two goals in quick succession.

Bayer Leverkusen come into this match as the bookies favourites, being priced at 19/20 by bet365. While the visitors have clearly put a lot of work into squad improvement over the summer and are the stronger side on paper, we feel there is decent value in backing the hosts double chance here. Leverkusen’s are yet to settle on a fixed starting eleven given the number of injuries, whether minor or long term, crucial players have picked up. Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez missed the opener, Kevin Volland missed their second, and Bellarabi will be absent for their third, meaning their core attacking trio hasn’t had too much time to gel on the competitive level. All of Leverkusen’s goals so far have relied on the substitution of super-sub Joel Pohjanpolo late into the match and a side such as Leverkusen can’t be expected to rely on him to save them every time they are struggling for creativity. Leverkusen’s mid-week Champions League fixture is another factor which will no doubt take it’s toll on the side ahead of this weekend.

Meanwhile, Frankfurt were hugely unlucky not to take anything away from their last match against Darmstadt, where they worked hard and held 73% possession and had more attempts on goal. Frankfurt also have really strong home form in the Bundesliga, losing just one of their last nine home matches (W4 D4 L1), and come into this off the back of three consecutive home wins against Mainz 05, Dortmund, and Schalke – all of which are a similar level to Leverkusen. Frankfurt seem to defend well against the bigger sides and do just about enough to clinch the win (their two most recent home wins were 1-0’s against Schalke and Dortmund).

As such, we feel Frankfurt or draw at 17/20 and Frankfurt to win 1-0 at 11/1 are top value bets for this match.