Head coach Oliver Glasner made three changes to his line-up from the midweek win over Borussia Mönchengladbach. Two of these were enforced, with Makoto Hasebe replacing the suspended Tuta in defence and Sebastian Rode starting in place of the injured Kristijan Jakic in midfield, while Timothy Chandler was recalled on the right at the expense of Danny da Costa.
Pressure pays off
Eintracht started on the front foot at Deutsche Bank Park, earning five corners in the opening 15 minutes. It was from two of these that the game’s first chances arrived, Evan Ndicka heading wide from Rode’s cross (9’) and then Chandler being denied by Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner from a tight angle (13’). The next opportunity fell 10 minutes later, when Filip Kostic’s swerving shot was fumbled by Zentner, but Rafael Borré couldn’t quite convert the rebound.
After a dominant first half-hour from the Eagles, it looked like the visitors were beginning to get more of a foothold – only for Eintracht to strike on the counter. After some brilliant interplay in midfield, Borré ran through on goal and unselfishly squared it to Lindström, who just had to roll the ball in from close range for his fourth goal in six Bundesliga games. That was the last notable moment of the half as Eintracht took a fully deserved lead into the break.
Lead defended
Mainz inevitably came out with more attacking purpose at the start of the second half and created a couple of half-chances early on, Jonathan Burkardt’s shot from a tight angle being saved by Kevin Trapp and Karim Onisiwo’s goalbound effort being blocked by Ndicka. The threat from Frankfurt remained, though, and they came close to extending their lead on 61 minutes. Substitute Ajdin Hrustic spotted Zentner out of position and almost caught him out with a wonderful looping shot, but it ricocheted off the bar (61’). Borré was in the thick of the action again minutes later as Lindström returned the favour for the goal by playing in his strike partner, but the Colombian’s powerful shot was too close to Zentner (67’).
The visitors pushed for an equaliser towards the end, with Trapp having to make good saves from Anton Stach (80’) and Aarón Martin (90’), but Eintracht stood firm and held on to make it six wins from their last seven Bundesliga games.
Summary: Hard-fought win
It was a solid if unspectacular win for Glasner’s men as they rounded off a strong first half of the season and calendar year, in which only Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have collected more points in the Bundesliga.
SGE line-up
Trapp – Hinteregger, Hasebe, Ndicka – Chandler, Sow, Rode (Hrustic 56’), Kostic – Kamada (Ilsanker 85’), Lindström (Ache 72’) – Borré (Paciencia 85’)
Goals
1-0 Lindström (35’)
