Mainz vs Eintracht Frankfurt prediction: GERMANY: Bundesliga betting tips on match 2023-08-26 13:30.
The beginning of a league season is a time of endless possibilities when hopes and dreams run wild, and that was the same for Mainz for all of 50 seconds until Kevin Behrens began Union Berlin’s 4-1 rout of them on the opening day. Their pain was exacerbated by Ludovic Ajorque’s pair of penalty misses, and that extended Mainz’s winless run of league games to six (D1, L5), equalling their longest wait for a win under Bo Svensson.
A return to the Mewa Arena isn’t guaranteed to stimulate progress if the back end of 2022/23 bears any influence on current form, as they’re winless here in four of their last five league games (D2, L2). It’s just as well that Eintracht Frankfurt are the first visitors of the season then, as the 05ers remain unbeaten in all but one of their all-time home Bundesliga H2H clashes (W6, D8, L1).
Perhaps also playing into Mainz’s hands is the fact that this game falls between Frankfurt’s crunch UEFA Europa Conference League play-off. The Eagles travelled to Sofia in midweek and with that tie in the balance at 1-1 and the return leg to come on Thursday, manager Dino Toppmöller could foreseeably rest some players here with their pursuit of European football at stake.
No matter what the approach, Toppmöller had big boots to fill after following Oliver Glasner into the job, but his side’s return of eight unanswered goals across two domestic games under his tenure must be seen as the perfect start. Next on the agenda for him is ending Frankfurt’s shocking 11-game winless run of Bundesliga away games (D5, L6), their worst such streak in eight years.
Key battle: Karim Onisiwo hit his first double figure Bundesliuga season for Mainz in 2022/23 (G10), and he could get off the mark this term if he can build on his five direct goal contributions in 12 meetings with Frankfurt (G2, A3). Trying to marshal him could be the evergreen Makoto Hasebe, with the 39-year-old Japanese defender becoming Frankfurt’s oldest ever Bundesliga player with his 228th appearance in round one.
Hot streak: Frankfurt have conceded at least twice in each of their last eight Bundesliga away games.