Hertha Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt will both be looking to bounce back from defeats when they face off at the Olympiastadion on Saturday afternoon.
The hosts suffered their first defeat under Bruno Labbadia last time out, while Frankfurt lost to Bayern Munich in the DFB-Pokal semi-finals in midweek.
Match preview
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Three wins and a draw in their first four games after the coronavirus-enforced shutdown had Hertha in strong contention for a Europa League berth, but last week's narrow 1-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund may have curtailed those European hopes.
It was the Old Lady's first loss of Labbadia's tenure and leaves them ninth, seven points adrift of sixth-place Wolfsburg with only 12 more points left to play for.
Frankfurt are three points further back following last week's 2-0 home loss to Mainz 05 and therefore have very little left to play for on the face of it, even more so after being knocked out of the DFB-Pokal on Wednesday.
Bayern took a deserved lead through Ivan Perisic and created countless other opportunities in a dominant first half, but Frankfurt improved after the restart and were rewarded when substitute Danny da Costa struck.
Adi Hutter's men struggled to push on, however, and Robert Lewandowski proved to be the matchwinner in what was a repeat of the 2018 final, which Frankfurt memorably won.
The Eagles are now effectively jostling for position in mid-table with games against Schalke 04, FC Koln and Paderborn to come after this weekend's trip to the German capital.
A return of 35 points from their 30 Bundesliga games this season is the lowest Frankfurt have had since 2015-16 (27), and is 18 points fewer than at the same stage last term en route to finishing seventh.
The visitors have kept only one clean sheet in their last nine Bundesliga matches - a 3-0 win at Werder Bremen on June 3 - and have conceded a league-high 24 goals during that period.
To make matters worse for Hutter, his side have a poor record against Hertha, failing to win any of the last four encounters, including a 2-2 draw in December's reverse fixture.
Indeed, the Berlin club have only picked up more Bundesliga wins against Hamburger SV (30) than they have versus Frankfurt (29). They have also scored more top-flight goals against the Eagles than versus any other side (111 in total).
Hertha Berlin's Bundesliga form: DWWDWL
Eintracht Frankfurt's Bundesliga form: LLDWWL
Eintracht Frankfurt form (all competitions): LDWWLL
Team News
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Matheus Cunha remains injured for Hertha and Salomon Kalou will not be considered for selection after his breach of lockdown rules during the Bundesliga's hiatus.
However, Labbadia has found a settled XI and is expected to keep changes to a minimum on the back of last week's loss at Signal Iduna Park.
That could mean Krzysztof Piatek once again watching on from the bench, with the big-money signing struggling to oust veteran Bosnian striker Vedad Ibisevic since the restart.
As for Frankfurt, a few tweaks can be expected from Hutter given the quick turnaround in matches this week.
Four changes were made between the defeats to Mainz and Bayern, with skipper David Abraham among those to return in midweek.
Da Costa did his hopes of starting this game no harm with his well-taken goal at the Allianz Arena, so Almamy Toure may drop out.
Elsewhere, Filip Kostic is back in contention after missing the Bayern tie due to a suspension carried over from the quarter-finals.
Hertha Berlin possible starting lineup:
Jarstein; Pekarik, Boyata, Torunarigha, Mittelstadt; Grujic, Skjelbred; Lukebakio, Darida, Dilrosun; Ibisevic
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Hinteregger, Abraham, Ndicka; Da Costa, Kohr, Rode, Chandler; Kostic; Silva, Gacinovic
We say: Hertha Berlin 2-0 Eintracht Frankfurt
Frankfurt have won only one of their last six league trips to Hertha and have failed to score in four of the last five such meetings.
The visitors have struggled defensively since the Bundesliga returned, whereas Hertha - last week's loss to Dortmund aside - have looked good at both ends, so we are backing them to win this one.
No Data Analysis info
