Eintracht – Stuttgart

In the battle for important positions, the opponents won’t score many goals.

Eintracht have disappointed their fans this season. A shameful performance in the Champions League, a crazy number of goals conceded and failures in the Bundesliga led to the dismissal of Dino Topmöller and the appointment of Albert Riera as head coach of the Frankfurt club. The former Liverpool defender, in four months at the helm of Eintracht, somewhat stabilized its results, but he did not achieve the expected football from the team that the fans anticipated. A matchday before the end of the Bundesliga, Eintracht has the last chance to save the season. The team sits in eighth place in the standings, one point behind Freiburg, which occupies the last European competition spot. Given that the opponent is currently in the Europa League final, scheduled for next Wednesday, the Frankfurt players could reasonably expect Freiburg not to be able to beat RB Leipzig in the parallel match. Under such circumstances, Eintracht's victory would secure them a place in the Europa Conference League next season. The other thing is that, should the same result occur, Stuttgart will come to Frankfurt am Main. The Swabians are in a precarious position, needing three points. They occupy fourth place in the standings — the last in the Champions League zone. Having equal points with the pursuing Hoffenheim, Stuttgart must not allow their rival to overtake them in the final round. Bookmakers have made the visitors favorites for the upcoming match, offering odds of 1.89 on their victory. Eintracht preliminarily looks weaker than the opponent. Riera's side have earned only one point in the last four rounds, losing to RB Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund, and Hamburg. Stuttgart have earned a solid 'good' rating for the latest rounds in the fight for a place in the Champions League zone, scoring four points from two matches with direct rivals. The Swabians drew with Hoffenheim and beat Bayer Leverkusen. Bookmakers expect a high-scoring match in Frankfurt, based on the stereotype that in the Bundesliga, important clashes are decided by attack. However, five or more goals in a match have occurred in only five of seventeen head-to-head meetings between Eintracht and Stuttgart in the last ten years, which is 29% of all matches. The stakes for this clash are so high that the rivals will play more cautiously than expected.