For all their talent, it's looking increasingly likely that Eintracht Frankfurt will be going down and, in order to defy the odds, a result against a rampant Borussia Dortmund side will surely be of vital concern in the last match at the Commerzbank-Arena on Saturday, 14:30 GMT.
Form
Although Eintracht boss Niko Kovac may not have had the desired effect since taking over the reigns from Armin Veh, the last two matches have shown there is life in his side yet and the sudden resurgence could bode well for Saturday as well as the pivotal game away to Werder Bremen on the last match day.
After being humbled by a superior Bayer Leverkusen side, the Eagles welcomed a high-flying Mainz side and, despite going a goal down, the home side rallied to a late win, albeit with a helping hand from lady luck to claim victory in the Rhine-Main derby. Not since the beginning of the restart in January, had the Launische Diva picked up back-to-back wins before last week — Yet again, the relegation-threatened side came from behind, and saved a penalty, to take all three points late on.
The Frankfurters boast quite an impressive home record, given their situation, having witnessed defeat just the five times.
Things are significantly calmer over in the industrial capital of Germany. Despite ultimately not having the legs to catch Bayern, second spot, and a return to the Champions League, was solidified weeks ago, much to the stark contrast of last season's woes.
Der BVB have conceded a mere one goal in their last four outings — at home to Wolfsburg. In that very match, Dortmund were unstoppable, putting five past the side that looked a shadow of itself a year ago. Of course, the win prior to this — 0:3 over Stuttgart was just as dominant — and has helped their opposition, somewhat momentarily.
Head-to-head
Naturally, it is Dortmund who prevail in the record between the two. Thomas Tuchel's side have won four of the last five matches, scoring twelve goals. However, Eintracht won this exact fixture last season 2:0, so there is hope yet for even the most pessimistic of fans.
The reverse fixture saw die Schwarzgelben snuff out an early deficit and run away 4:1 winners in the last match of the Hinrunde.
Squad sitrep
Accumulations of yellow cards means Haris Seferović — scorer in the win over Dortmund last season — is suspended for the trip.
Johannes Flum, Szabolcs Huszti, Timothy Chandler, Carlos Zambrano and goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky are all doubtful. There is a glimmer of hope, though — Top scorer Alexander Meier is back in training after a lengthy spell on the sidelines and could make his much-needed return.
Things are a tad better off in the Dortmund camp. Although Julian Weigl is suspended, Neven Subotić and İlkay Gündoğan are out for the season, the latter suffering a serious knee injury. More recently, Lukasz Piszczek picked up a knock and missed the last training session, as a result.
On a sidenote, it should be noted that Eintracht could lose automatic safety if they fail to win and the struggling duo of Werder Bremen and Darmstadt were to claim victory in their matches against Köln and Hertha, respectively.