Both teams come from strong leagues and one of them will not reach the group phase of the Europa League. It is interesting how they reach the qualifications as Strasbourg won only the 11th place, however, it won the League Cup in France and that qualified them for the Europa League. Eintracht won merely the 7th place in the Bundesliga and that was the last position that leads to the Europa League.
Strasbourg had a solid start of the season since it passed two obstacles in the Europa League qualifications, although it drew both times in first two rounds of the French Ligue 1. Maccabi Haifa was their first opponent in the Europa League and Strasbourg won 3-1 at home and lost 2-1 away so it cannot be said that they had an easy job. It is interesting that were trailing behind and hte won in the 1st leg, while in the 2nd they had a lead and lost.
They won Lokomotiv Plovdiv two times by 1-0 and it can be said that had easier than in the first round. The real challenge is ahead of them and they didn’t have a very good start of the French Championship. They faced Metz at home in the first round and merely draw 1-1, while in the second round they played a goalless draw with Reims. They didn't bring many new players this summer and two new ones are stoppers Kone and Djiku who alternate in the Ligue 1 and Europa League. Midfielder Fofana is injured.
Probable lineups RC Strasbourg: Sels – Lala, Kone, S. Mitrovic, Carole – Martin, Sissoko – Lienard, Bellegarde, Thomasson – Da Costa
Eintracht also had to play two rounds in the European League but they had very easy opponents and it would be a huge sensation if they were eliminated. It cannot be said that they excelled and win with ease except in one match. They won Estonian Flora both times by 2-1, meaning they allowed much weaker opponent to score in both matches. They didn’t allow Vaduz to do the same and Eintracht won away by 5-0 and then verified the victory in Frankfurt with easy 1-0. Eintracht again had to play with full throttle in the first round of the DFB-Pokal when they won Mannheim 5-3, after a turnaround and three goals in row scored by forward Rebic.
The first Bundesliga round brought a match with Hoffenheim and again Eintracht didn’t make a name for itself but nevertheless they won by 1-0. When we put all this together it's six matches and six wins so they can be satisfied at least with the results. Hinteregger scored the only goal in the first minute against Hoffenheim, and it is interesting that the result didn’t change after that. Manager Hutter doesn't change the team too much regardless whether Eintracth plays in Europe or in Germany, so he probably won't make too many changes now.
Probable lineups Eintracht Frankfurt: Trapp – Hasebe, Abraham, Hinteregger – da Costa, Rode, G. Fernandes, Kostic – Gacinovic, Kamada – Rebic
Strasbourg had a bit more difficult opponents and they didn’t exactly make a name for themselves, just like Eintracht but the guests have won all matches played so far and we believe that are capable to return home undefeated, while draw seems like a very probable outcome.
Pick: Asian handicap 0 Eintracht Frankfurt 1.58 - 58/100 @1XBet