The Eagles have proven this season that they can raise their game to match the top sides. With the exception of the away game at Bayern Munich, Eintracht have taken at least a point from their other four meetings with teams who were in the top four at the time. Saturday’s opponents Bayer Leverkusen suffered a stoppage-time defeat against Bayern last time out, which was their first loss of the season – an impressive run that sees them sitting in second place.
The Bundesliga is coming out of the shortest winter break in its history. The only previous time that Eintracht have played on the day after New Year’s Day was 56 years ago, when they beat TSV 1860 München 4-1. Of course, it would be foolish to read anything into that, but the fact is that none of the 70 Bundesliga meetings between SGE and B04 have ended goalless.
In any event, head coach Adi Hütter can be pleased that the personnel situation is gradually easing. Apart from Ragnar Ache, every player is available, including Jetro Willems who returned to full training this week. So while Eintracht have one more recognised left-back at their disposal, Bayer coach Peter Bosz recently lost both of his in quick succession: Wendell and Daley Sinkgraven have both tested positive for COVID-19, meaning there are currently eight players in the Werkself’s treatment room. In spite of that, Jetro Willems knows what it will come down to: “We have to focus on ourselves because we know we’ve had a lot of draws so far. We want to change that.”
