Eintracht Frankfurt vs. SV Werder Bremen preview: Adler look for another strong start | OneFootball

Eintracht Frankfurt

With Champions League football for the first time in three years, on top of their domestic campaigns, it is going to be a very busy season for Eintracht Frankfurt. The Hessian side finished fourth in the Bundesliga in the 2024/25 campaign (17-9-8, 60 pts), their second season under head coach Dino Toppmöller - they picked up 34 of those points at Deutsche Bank Park, including three crucial points that qualified them for Champions League football on the final matchday.

Toppmöller's side played five preseason matches in late July and early August, finishing 2-2-1; this was then followed by a 5-0 rout of Oberliga club FV Engers 07 in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, with Japanese international winger Ritsu Dōan scoring twice in a span of nine minutes in his competitive debut.

Frankfurt lost Hugo Ekitiké to Liverpool FC for a €95 million transfer fee in the offseason, but signed Jonathan Burkardt from 1. FSV Mainz 05 and are counting on him to lead the attack. Burkardt scored eighteen times last season, fourth in this regard in the German top-flight; one of those happened to be in the fifty-seventh minute against Eintracht Frankfurt in May, with a 0.33 xG probability of going in. Burkardt was involved in 80 minutes of action for Frankfurt in their DFB-Pokal match, completing all 11 passes he made and directing a shot on target.

Team News

With Michael Zetterer having recently been signed from SV Werder Bremen, replacing Paris FC-bound goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, the 30-year-old is set to make his debut against his former club.

Sporting CEO of the club, Markus Krösche, had this to say about acquiring Zetterer: “With Michael Zetterer, we are gaining a strong goalkeeper who can play at a high level. In Bremen, he proved that he is an above-average goalkeeper; with his ambition and the mentality that he brings, he is a perfect fit for us in Frankfurt. It was very important to us to enter the new season with a strong and balanced goalkeeping team – Michael is an important part of that.”

Frankfurt have a handful of injuries to worry about going into the game. 22-year-old Brazilian goalkeeper Kauã Santos has not played since April due to a cruciate ligament injury and still needs some time to get back to full fitness. Ellyes Skhiri is out with a knee problem, while Jessic Ngankam is still recovering a broken leg that he suffered while on loan to Hannover 96.

Nathaniel Brown could return to the squad after fighting his way back from an injury, but is not fit to start yet. The same goes for Mario Götze, and Can Uzun is therefore expected to start in the central attacking midfield role.

Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Zetterer - Kristensen, Koch, Collins, Theate - Chaibi, Larsson - Dōan, Uzun, Bahoya - Burkardt.

SV Werder Bremen

On the other side of the field are SV Werder Bremen, who finished their 2024/25 campaign in eighth place (14-9-11, 51 pts), just one point out of European competition and with a -3 goal differential (54-57). While Frankfurt were the fourth-best team at home in the 2024/25 season, Bremen were the third-best away, with 30 of their 51 points won outside the Weserstadion.

Bremen's sole focus is on the Bundesliga; their DFB-Pokal campaign ended very early, as they were eliminated in the first round after a late Isaiah Young goal for DSC Arminia Bielefeld. This was the second consecutive time that Bremen were eliminated by Bielefeld in the Pokal in the last six months, as Julián Malatini's forty-first minute own goal secured the then-3. Liga side a spot in the semifinals.

Bremen played four preseason matches, losing twice to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (0-1 / 0-3), once to Udinese Calcio (1-2), and managing a draw against Parma Calcio 1913 (0-0) - it should be mentioned that while the other matches were 90 minutes, the Parma match was 120 (2x60).

Statistically, comparing Frankfurt and Bremen from the 2024/25 season, the former had the edge in terms of possession, with exactly 50% compared to 49.7%. Bremen were also slightly better in terms of progressive passes, making 1351 passes in and around the opponents' penalty area compared to 1347 from Frankfurt. Bremen were also more successful in terms of long balls, with a 57.5% success rate, third-best in the 2024/25 season.

However, how both teams fare off the ball could ultimately decide who gets more chances; Bremen were third-worst in terms of discipline last season, taking 75 yellow cards and four reds, while Frankfurt finished with 55 yellows and one red, fifth-best in the German top-flight.

Team News

As mentioned above, Bremen lost first-choice goalkeeper Michael Zetterer to Frankfurt, ending a decade-long chapter with the club that also included loan deals in Austria and the Netherlands, as well as time with the reserve squad. Zetterer was involved in 74 matches since getting fully promoted to the senior Bremen squad in 2021, finishing with a 27-22-24 record; he finished with 20 clean sheets, half of which were in the 2024/25 season alone.

Peter Niemeyer, Werder's head of first-team football, said regarding Zetterer's departure for Frankfurt: “The fact that we already have a high-quality goalkeeper in Mio Backhaus in our squad is another reason why we accepted Zetterer's transfer. After more than ten years with SV Werder, Zetterer had the opportunity for a change that also involved participation in the Champions League; based on the overall package that was offered [by Frankfurt], we ultimately decided to agree to a transfer.”

21-year-old Backhaus, a Germany youth international who is also eligible to represent Japan, is expected to be Zetterer's replacement. He will be making his competitive debut for the club after starting in a series of friendlies since July of last year. Karl Hein is set to arrive from Arsenal as his backup.

Key midfielder Jens Stage is currently unavailable with an ankle injury and is expected to return at some point next month; Mitchell Weiser, who can play in midfield or at right-back, is still recovering from a cruciate ligament injury and will be unable to play until March 2026 at the earliest.

Amos Pieper, Olivier Deman and new signing Maximilian Wöber will miss out as well.

Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Backhaus - Malatini, Friedl, Stark, Agu - Lynen, Bittencourt - Mbangula, Schmid, Njinmah - Grüll.