Bayern Munich will be looking to extend their lead at the top of the Bundesliga when they travel to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
The visitors had to come from behind to survive a huge upset last weekend, whilst the visitors suffered a second consecutive defeat during a poor start to the New Year.
Match preview
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After falling 2-0 at home to a struggling Wolfsburg side on matchday 22, Frankfurt could not provide the required response when they travelled to a fellow European hopeful in the form of FC Koln last weekend.
Oliver Glasner's side were restricted to very little in an attacking sense due to the excellent organisation of their opponents, but for his usually free-scoring team to draw blanks in successive games, the former Wolfsburg boss will be concerned.
The disappointing display was not much of a shock when Die Adler's form during 2022 is taken into account though, with Frankfurt now losing four and winning just one of their opening six games of the New Year.
Six wins from the final seven games of 2021 had shot Frankfurt up the table and into real contention for the Champions League places come May, but the drop off in form in recent weeks leaves Saturday's hosts in 10th place ahead of the weekend.
A margin of six points is now separating Glasner's side from a European place of any kind, and with a relatively small nine-point gap between themselves and Augsburg in the relegation playoff spot, Frankfurt will soon need to look over their shoulder if this dip continues for much longer.
Therefore, the visit of Bayern on Saturday could not come at a much worse time, but Frankfurt will take confidence from the fact that they were the side that ended the leaders' all but perfect start to the campaign back in October, when Die Adler unexpectedly triumphed 2-1 at the Allianz Arena.
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Meanwhile, last weekend Bayern bounced back from a disappointing previous week in which they had suffered a shock defeat at VfL Bochum in the Bundesliga, and perhaps fortuitously came away from Red Bull Salzburg with a 1-1 draw in their Champions League round-of-16 tie.
For the opening 45 minutes though, it had appeared that the Bavarians would be on the wrong end of another upset, with Julian Nagelsmann's side trailing bottom-of-the-table Greuther Furth by 1-0 at half time at the Allianz Arena.
However, Robert Lewandowski equalised within seconds of the restart, and once they got themselves ahead just after the hour mark via an own goal, there was little doubt that Bayern would be returning to winning ways.
With Borussia Dortmund also winning later on that day, the champions' lead at the Bundesliga summit remained at six points following the conclusion of matchday 23.
Having increased their advantage to nine points on two separate occasions over the last couple of months, Nagelsmann will be frustrated that his side have failed to all but confirm their 10th consecutive Bundesliga title recently, but the leaders remain firmly in the driving seat regardless.
Possessing the advantage of playing one day earlier than Dortmund this week, Bayern have the opportunity to exert the pressure on their challengers once more, by extending the gap back to nine with a win at the Deutsche Bank Park on Saturday.
However, following the shock defeat in the reverse fixture back in October, as well as a couple of slip-ups in recent weeks, the visitors must remain guarded from any potential complacency.
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Team News
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Frankfurt must cope without central midfielder Kristijan Jakic on Saturday, after the Croatian's fifth yellow card of the season last weekend ruled him out of the visit of Bayern.
Sebastian Rode also looks to be absent from the centre of the pitch, meaning Ajdin Hrustic should deputise alongside Djibril Sow.
Daichi Kamada is struggling with a knee problem, so Filip Kostic could push further forward into an area where he caused so many problems for Bayern in the reverse fixture.
Diant Ramaj, Ragnar Ache and Goncalo Paciencia are all ruled out for the hosts due to injury.
As for the visitors, Thomas Muller will sit out of the trip after testing positive for COVID-19 this week.
His tally of six goals and 16 assists in the Bundesliga so far this season will be a huge miss for Bayern, who are also without key players Alphonso Davies, Leon Goretzka, Kingsley Coman and Manuel Neuer.
Corentin Tolisso picked up a hamstring injury in the first half of last weekend's win to add to Nagelsmann's lack of options, whilst Lucas Hernandez is also struggling with a calf problem that could see the visitors without seven first-team players.
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Tuta, Hinteregger, N'Dicka; Chandler, Hrustic, Sow, Lenz; Lindstrom, Kostic; Borre
Bayern Munich possible starting lineup:
Ulreich; Pavard, Upamecano, Sule, Richards; Kimmich, Sabitzer; Gnabry, Sane, Musiala; Lewandowski
We say: Eintracht Frankfurt 1-2 Bayern Munich
With Bayern having a small wobble of late by their usual exceptional standards, as well as the absence of a number of important players, we can see them struggling on Saturday.
However, we are still predicting an away win due to Frankfurt's lack of form this calendar year, but if the hosts can rekindle their goalscoring touch, we can see them causing the league leaders all sorts of problems on home soil.
Top tip
Matthew Tranter
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Bayern Munich win with a probability of 72.97%. A draw had a probability of 14.8% and a win for Eintracht Frankfurt had a probability of 12.19%.
The most likely scoreline for a Bayern Munich win was 1-2 with a probability of 8.58%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-3 (8.16%) and 0-2 (7.63%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.02%), while for a Eintracht Frankfurt win it was 2-1 (3.39%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 5.4% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Bayern Munich would win this match.
