Separated by just two points and one place in the Bundesliga table as it stands, Eintracht Frankfurt and Hertha Berlin go head to head at the Commerzbank Arena on Saturday looking to climb out of the bottom half.
The hosts will be looking to build on their stunning first league win of the campaign last time out before the international break, whilst the visitors will be looking to bounce back from disappointing back-to-back defeats.
Match preview
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As mentioned above, Frankfurt earned their first league win of the season prior to the international break, which unexpectedly arrived at reigning champions Bayern Munich.
With their backs to the wall for much of the game as predicted, and after falling behind midway through the first half, even the most optimistic of Eintracht supporters would not have seen the result coming.
Taking into account their struggles leading into the fixture as well, it appeared that Die Adler had little to no hope of achieving a positive result at the fortress that is the Allianz Arena, but goals from Martin Hinteregger and Filip Kostic provided the remarkable turnaround.
An incredibly stubborn performance from Kevin Trapp in the Frankfurt goal also proved vital, as Oliver Glasner's men fought hard for the victory that they hope will kickstart their campaign.
Since arriving from Wolfsburg in the summer, Glasner had enjoyed very little of his tenure up to the success in Munich, with a defeat to third-tier opposition in the first round of the DFB-Pokal preceding an opening weekend hammering at Borussia Dortmund and five successive draws in the Bundesliga.
The manager will now be looking for his side to build on that unlikely win by achieving another against a Hertha side on Saturday that they have succeeded against in each of their last three meetings.
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As for the visitors, yet another disappointing start to a Bundesliga campaign leaves Hertha sitting in 14th place heading into Saturday's fixture, two points behind their opponents but only two above the relegation playoff position as well.
A league-high 20 goals conceded has been the obvious reason for their early struggles, although two heavy defeats of 5-0 and 6-0 away to Bayern and RB Leipzig respectively do slightly distort that figure.
However, a failure to keep a clean sheet in any of the opening seven games so far means there is plenty of pressure placed on the forwards to bail out their defensive teammates in each fixture.
After losing on the opening three matchdays, the Berlin side did briefly recover via back-to-back victories over the newly-promoted duo of VfL Bochum and Greuther Furth, although early signs this campaign suggest they were hardly notable achievements.
Despite relatively heavy investment in recent years, The Old Lady continue to find themselves at the wrong end of the table come May each year, and unless manager Pal Dardai can put together a decent run of form soon, then it is hard to predict a different outcome this time around either.
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Team News
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Frankfurt are likely to be without summer recruit Rafael Santos Borre on Saturday, with the Colombian forward unlikely to feature due to a late return from international duty.
As a result, Sam Lammers looks certain to lead the line, with Kostic on the left flank beside him, who Frankfurt will hope can rediscover his best form of last season after a star performance against Bayern last time out.
Aymen Barkok, Christopher Lenz, Sebastian Rode and Amin Younes have all been ruled out, but Erik Durm and Evan N'Dicka look set to return for the hosts.
Meanwhile, Hertha remain without the defensive trio of Marton Dardai, Lukas Klunter and Jordan Torunarigha for the trip to Frankfurt.
Veteran goalkeeper Rune Jarstein remains a doubt too, as well as forward Myziane Maolida.
After returning to fitness with a substitute appearance against Freiburg last time out, Krzysztof Piatek managed a goal and looks set to make his first start of the season as a result.
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Tuta, N'Dicka, Hinteregger; Durm, Sow, Jakic, Chandler; Lindstrom, Lammers, Kostic
Hertha Berlin possible starting lineup:
Schwolow; Pekarik, Stark, Boyata, Plattenhardt; Ekkelenkamp, Tousart; Richter, Serdar, Jovetic; Piatek
We say: Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 Hertha Berlin
We think the hosts will be in high spirits after their incredible victory before the break, and as a result we believe they will record back-to-back victories with another here against their struggling visitors.
If they are to climb the table in search for a European spot again this season, then these are the matches that Frankfurt will want to be winning, and they should have enough quality and goals in them to see off a leaky Hertha side.
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 Eintracht Frankfurt win with a probability of 64.6%. A draw had a probability of 20.2% and a win for Hertha Berlin had a probability of 15.22%.
The most likely scoreline for a Eintracht Frankfurt win was 2-0 with a probability of 11.13%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (10.78%) and 2-1 (9.88%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.57%), while for a Hertha Berlin win it was 0-1 (4.64%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 4.2% likelihood.
