Eintracht Frankfurt have made a storming start to the new campaign and will fancy their chances of claiming another win when they host Slavia Prague in the UEFA Europa League.
Dino Toppmoller is in his second season at the helm and is doing a good job of following in the footsteps of his famous dad Klaus, who led Leverkusen to the Champions League Final in 2002.
Frankfurt won the Europa League under his predecessor Oliver Glasner three seasons ago and look in decent shape for automatic qualification to the last 16 this term. They've collected seven points from nine so far and sit sixth in the overall standings, although they aren't among the favourites to go all the way.
Their Bundesliga form has also been impressive, with their only defeats all season coming to big guns Dortmund and Leverkusen. Eintracht Frankfurt warmed up for this game by smashing seven past Bochum at the weekend so it's a daunting task for Slavia Prague.
The Czechs have made a less impressive start to the Europa League campaign and sit down in 18th after one draw, one defeat and one stalemate. But that defeat was a narrow 1-0 loss in Bilbao, a game where the wrong Williams brother scored for me, and they held Dutch giants Ajax to a 1-1 draw.
That suggests Slavia Prague could be a tough nut to crack for Toppmoller's free-scoring side if Eintracht Frankfurt fail to grab an early goal.
How the bookies view it: Eintracht to stay on a roll
With Eintracht Frankfurt in good form, it's no great surprise to see them as Betano's 3/4 favourites. Slavia Prague are 3/1 outsiders and the draw pays 27/10.
Head to head: Good omens for Slavia
These sides have never faced off before but Eintracht Frankfurt have already faced Czech opposition in this season's Europa League, drawing 3-3 with Viktoria Plzen. Slavia last took on a German side three seasons ago in the Conference League, beating Union Berlin 3-1 at home before drawing 1-1 on the road.
Players to watch: Igor out to impress
Hugo Ekitike netted twice in that weekend rout of Bochum but might get a breather here, having played the full 90 minutes in two games over the last week. Igor Matanovic could replace him up front and has featured in all three Europa League games. He's 31/20 at Betano to grab his third goal of the season.
Slavia Prague need a win so I'd imagine they will go with their strongest available side. Lukas Provod has started two of their three Europa League games so far and the forward is 4/1 at Betano to take his tally for the season to three.
Probable line-ups
Toppmoller has rotated his side a fair bit this season and could rest a few big hitters ahead of a big Bundesliga game with Stuttgart. He's still missing injured trio Oscar Hojlund, Rasmussen Kristensen and Marcel Wenig.
Slavia Prague are still without Lukas Vorlicky, Jindrich Stanek and Tomas Vlcek due to injury.
Eintracht Frankfurt: Trapp, Theate, Tuta, Koch, Collins, Dahoud, Knauff, Gotze, Larsson, Marmoush, Matanovic.
Slavia Prague: Kinsky, Boril, Zima, Zmrzly, Doudera, Zafeiris, Dorley, Diouf, Provod, Chory, Lingr.
Anything else catch the eye?
Even if Toppmoller does make a few changes, his side should be too strong for Slavia. With Eintracht scoring a lot of goals recently, I'm backing a Frankfurt win with over 1.5 strikes at evens with Betfred. Adding on another goal boosts the odds to 7/5.
Slavia Prague have also been scoring a lot of goals, drawing a blank in just three of their 21 games this term. That makes combining BTTS and over 2.5 goals another good option at evens with Bet365, even though that bet let me down when the Czechs lost to Athletic Bilbao.
The Czechs have won seven or more corners in all three of their Europa League games so the 11/10 on offer at Unibet for over 5.5 Slavia corners could pay off.
This UEFA Europa League match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Slavia Prague will be played on Nov 7, 2024 and kick off at 17:45. Check below for our tipsters best Eintracht Frankfurt vs Slavia Prague prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
