Preview: St Pauli vs Eintracht Frankfurt - prediction, team news, lineups

Relegation-threatened St Pauli are enjoying a timely resurgence, and they will be looking to continue their recent winning run when they welcome Eintracht Frankfurt to the Millerntor-Stadion this Sunday afternoon.

Neighbourhood Kickers remain just one point above the bottom three, while the Eagles need a victory as they look to close the gap on the top six.

Match preview

Having good timing and being able to peak at the right moment are hugely important traits in sport, though St Pauli appear to have taken that notion to the extreme.

The Hamburg-based club closed out January with a 2-1 defeat to Augsburg, which left them second-bottom in the standings and a massive five points from safety.

One month on, Alexander Blessin’s side are out of the bottom three after producing a spectacular upswing in results, consisting of three Bundesliga victories from four games.

Successes over Stuttgart, Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim have given the Neighbourhood Kickers fresh survival hope and a tonne of confidence ahead of the final two-and-a-half months of the season.

The vast improvement in results appears to have coincided with the return of skipper Jackson Irvine, who missed large spells of the season through injury.

St Pauli have picked up 11 points in seven games since Irvine’s return, while only managing seven points from nine outings during his spell on the sidelines.

Eintracht Frankfurt have enjoyed the customary manager bounce over recent weeks, with Spanish head coach Albert Riera picking up seven points from his first four games in charge.

The Eagles endured an eight-match winless run across all competitions prior to Riera’s arrival, leaving the club with a lot of catching up to do in the race for the top six.

Frankfurt enter the weekend nine points adrift of sixth-placed Bayer Leverkusen and 12 points behind fourth-placed Stuttgart - gulfs which seem insurmountable with just 10 matchdays remaining.

Despite this, Riera is pushing his side to play with passion, telling reporters that he will have ‘problems’ with the players who fail to deliver the required amount of effort.

The Spaniard was certainly happy with the levels last weekend, as Eintracht enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 victory over a dangerous Freiburg side.

St Pauli Bundesliga form:

D L W L W W

St Pauli form (all competitions):

L L W L W W

Eintracht Frankfurt Bundesliga form:

L L D W L W

Eintracht Frankfurt form (all competitions):

L L D W L W

Team News

Despite enjoying their recent resurgence, St Pauli are still dealing with several injuries.

Forward Andreas Hountondji, for instance, has been dealing with an ankle injury since December and remains out of action for the foreseeable future.

Englishman Ricky-Jade Jones is out for the season with the same injury, while defender Karol Mets is a recent addition to the physio room with a calf issue.

Austria’s David Nemeth has missed the entire season with a groin problem, but the 24-year-old is on the mend and is building his match fitness ahead of a potential return.

Eintracht Frankfurt are also dealing with a long list of absentees as they enter the final stretch of the season.

The Eagles are missing the attacking firepower of Michy Batshuayi, with the Belgian forward still recovering from his lengthy foot injury.

Fellow forward Younes Ebnoutalib remains on the sidelines with a knee problem, which is the same injury that Kaua Santos and Arthur Theate are dealing with.

Ansgar Knauff, Rasmus Kristensen and Can Yilmaz Uzun complete Eintracht’s lengthy list of injured players.

St Pauli possible starting lineup:

Vasilj; Wahl, Smith, Ando; Saliakas, Irvine, Sands, Pyrka; Pereira Lage, Fujita; Sinani

Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:

Zetterer; Collins, Koch, Amenda, Brown; Doan, Chaïbi, Larsson, Bahoya; Kalimuendo, Burkardt