Eintracht Frankfurt vs Shakhtar Donetsk Predictions

It’s not often that a team will go away from home and be disappointed about scoring two goals and avoiding defeat in a two-legged European tie, though as they led twice against a side that played with ten men for almost the entirety of the contest, Frankfurt probably weren’t too pleased about leaving Ukraine with a 2-2 draw last week. Adi Hütter will surely view the first leg as a missed opportunity, though they cannot dwell on it for too long and ought to be confident of making amends on home soil.

Going forward, Frankfurt offered their usual attacking threat last week; they got on the front foot, forced the issue and created plenty of openings. On this basis, they were deserving of the two goals that they scored. However, at the other end, problems occurred for the Germans, who looked very susceptible to the break. The fact that they gave away 1.32 expected goals (and two actual goals) against a side playing with ten men is worrying.

Shakhtar did concede twice at home, which is never ideal in a two-legged European tie, but the fact that they avoided defeat and generally threatened Frankfurt will fill Thursday’s visitors with plenty of confidence ahead of this second leg. The Ukrainians may not be encouraged by Frankfurt’s rather imperious home record during the groups; the hosts won each of their three home games, scoring ten goals and conceding just one in the process, though they may be encouraged by Frankfurt’s recent home efforts in Germany.

Recent home matches have seen Frankfurt become exposed at the back. They failed to keep out Gladbach at the weekend, while they’ve now conceded at least once in each of their last six at Commerzbank-Arena. The fact that they’ve conceded expected-goals figures of 1.12, 1.85, 1.48, 2.26, 1.54 and 1.36 during that time doesn’t exactly paint a picture of defensive solidity, so there’s reason for the visitors to fancy their chances going forward. Fortunately, Frankfurt, who’re averaging 1.95 expected goals for at home this season, are more than capable going forward, so they too will back themselves to do the business in the final third.

Defensively, Shakhtar are reasonably weak on the road, as we saw during the UCL group stages, where they conceded twice away against both Hoffenheim and Lyon, while they shipped six away against Man City.

When we consider the efforts of Frankfurt at home in general of late in conjunction with how Lyon performed on the road during the group stages of the Champions League and put it together with how the first leg of this panned out, it’s not at all hard to envisage a high-scoring encounter unfolding at Commerzbank-Arena on Thursday evening. Quite simply, both teams offer plenty going forward, but not a great deal at the back. Given the above, ‘Over 2.5 Goals & Both Teams to Score’ should really be a tad shorter in the betting; in fact, it’s likely to be by 5:54 on Thursday evening, so punters are advised to plump for a high-scoring encounter at the current prices.