Cologne vs Eintracht Frankfurt

Bottom-half Cologne and top-four hopefuls Eintracht Frankfurt are set to trade tackles in a handsomely-looking Bundesliga fixture at the RheinEnergieStadion.

A tepid scoreless home draw against a more heavily fancied RB Leipzig last time out preserved Cologne’s unbeaten four-game Bundesliga start to the new calendar year (W1, D3). A decent league form in 2023 may tuck the ‘Billy Goats’ into a false sense of security, but a seven-point buffer from relegation spots means there’s no room for celebration. But Steffen Baumgart’s side will be confident of at least maintaining their morale-boosting 2023 start after picking up points in six of their last seven top-flight clashes against Frankfurt (W2, D4). The continuation of their superb recent H2H record against ‘Die Adler’ would see Cologne launch a new calendar year with five unbeaten matches in the Bundesliga for the first time since 2009!

Meanwhile, visiting Eintracht Frankfurt strolled to an overwhelming 3-0 home victory over relegation-battling Hertha Berlin last weekend, taking their outrageous unbeaten league run to seven matches (W4, D3) for the first time under manager Oliver Glasner. Moreover, the visitors haven’t lost any of their last five Bundesliga away games (W2, D3), including a hat-trick of 1-1 draws in the build-up to this fixture. Glasner has turned Frankfurt into a formidable attacking unit, with only record-time Bundesliga champions (56) netting more league goals than ‘Die Adler’ (40) this term. Yet it’s worth noting that only 40% of those strikes have come on hostile turf (16/40), with Frankfurt failing to score more than once on the road since early November.