Dortmund - Eintracht Frankfurt Preview: BVB try to hold on to top spot in the Bundesliga

After a rough week, Borussia Dortmund desperately need a rebound tomorrow when they travel to Eintracht Frankfurt.

The Champions League embarrassment in Cyprus is fresh in the mind, but that campaign already seems like a lost cause. Dortmund are still top of the Bundesliga, but last week’s loss to Red Bull Leipzig was concerning. To make matters worse, Jupp Heynckes’ Bayern Munich won big and now only trail BVB by two points.

The pressure will firmly be on Dortmund, but especially on Roman Bürki. It was Bürki’s mistake that allowed APOEL to score their only goal. The Swiss keeper has since been backed by Peter Bosz with words of encouragement and a contract extension that will last until 2021.

Bürki will be tasked with keeping out Sebastian Haller and Ante Rebic, who are both joint top-scorers with three goals for Frankfurt this season.

Last year, Thomas Tuchel’s Dortmund team beat Eintracht in the DFB Pokal Final 2-1. The two clubs split their series in the Bundesliga, with BVB winning 3-1 in April and losing 2-1 in November.

Frankfurt finished 11th last season, and seem destined this year to end up in a similar position in mid-table. They’re 7th at the moment, and are coming off back-to-back 2-1 victories over Hannover and Stuttgart respectively.

They’re not a bad team, but Eintracht represent another club that a team like BVB has to beat if they truly have aspirations of winning the title this season.

Frankfurt’s lengthy list of unavailable players should help Dortmund. The home side will be without Gelson Fernandes and Jonathan de Guzman due to injury, and Simon Falette is still suspended. Timothy Chandler and Marius Wolf are also doubts due to minor injuries.

For Dortmund, they’ll be missing a pretty big part of their defense. Sokratis is suspended after picking up a red card in the defeat to Leipzig.

But even without their captain, Peter Bosz’s side should have enough to get past Eintracht in Frankfurt.