Preview: Eagles host Werder Bremen

Backdrop

After being held to a goalless draw by Union Berlin at Deutsche Bank Park at the weekend, Eintracht are desperate to collect three points from their home game against Werder Bremen on Friday 5 April (kick-off 20:30 CEST) in order to consolidate sixth place in the table and take another step towards securing European football next season.
 

Bremen are on a run of four straight league defeats, leaving them in 10th place on 30 points.  In the reverse fixture, Ellyes Skhiri and Hrvoje Smolcic got the goals as the Eagles recovered from 2-0 down to claim a point – but nothing less than a win will do on this occasion. “We were missing that little bit of luck in certain situations against Union,” said head coach Dino Toppmöller. “We’re going to try again against Bremen on Friday. We want to win the game at all costs.”

 

Teammates place faith in Ekitiké

Strikers Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitiké, who both featured in the starting XI on Saturday, could play a key role against Werder. “It takes time to settle into a rhythm – that’s one of the most important factors in football,” replied Philipp Max when asked about the young Frenchman. “After that, you gain confidence automatically. He’s getting better and better and can definitely be important for us in the next few games.”

“He’s a superb player, good at one-v-ones,” added Ansgar Knauff, who is backing Ekitiké to open his goalscoring account for the club against Werder. “If he can score one or two goals, it’ll be another big step for him. He can definitely be a huge help to us.”