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Can Frankfurt’s right-wing rhythm survive Dortmund’s central control and transition threat? Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
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Borussia Dortmund arrive as the more stable and dominant side, having lost just once in the Bundesliga all season. Their tactical focus on controlling the game in the opposition's half and using through balls is perfectly designed to exploit Frankfurt's major weaknesses: a vulnerability to counter-attacks and a high frequency of individual errors. With Frankfurt conceding an average of two goals per game and missing their top creator, Farès Chaibi, Dortmund's layered attack should have enough quality to overcome the hosts' right-sided threat and secure all three points at Deutsche Bank Park.
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This scoreline reflects the statistical inevitability of goals for both sides while favoring Dortmund's superior consistency. Frankfurt have scored in the vast majority of their matches this season and possess a clinical finisher in Jonathan Burkardt, making a home goal probable. However, Frankfurt’s defensive average of two goals conceded per match aligns with Dortmund’s efficient scoring record. A 2-1 win for the visitors acknowledges Frankfurt's ability to remain competitive at home while highlighting the defensive lapses that have seen them concede 30 goals in 15 league games so far this season.
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Eintracht Frankfurt vs Borussia Dortmund Predictions and Best Bets
Eintracht Frankfurt vs Borussia Dortmund — William Hill Market Snapshot
Swipe through key markets with illustrative probabilities and sample William Hill odds based on our match analysis.
Dortmund’s strong season record and Frankfurt’s defensive gaps suggest an away advantage in the 1X2 market.
High scoring averages suggest narrow margins with goals for both sides are the most likely outcomes.
Both teams score frequently, with Frankfurt averaging 2.0 goals conceded per league game.
- Frankfurt’s Bundesliga season has been perfectly level in output: 30 goals scored and 30 conceded in 15 games, so their matches keep swinging both ways for long spells.
- Dortmund’s league defence has been far tighter: only 12 conceded in 15 Bundesliga matches, compared with Frankfurt conceding 30 in the same number of games.
- Both teams score relentlessly: Frankfurt have scored in 19 of their last 23 matches (83%), while Dortmund have scored in 23 of their last 24 (96%).
Defensive Volatility: Goals Conceded per League Game
A comparison of goals conceded per Bundesliga match shows a significant difference in defensive control.
Conceding 30 goals in 15 games points to regular defensive lapses and structural errors.
With only 12 goals conceded in 15 league matches, they maintain one of the division’s tightest back lines.
Attacking Reliability: Scoring Consistency
This shows how frequently both sides manage to find the net across all competitions this campaign.
Scoring in 19 out of 23 games confirms a reliable offensive output, led by Jonathan Burkardt.
They have failed to find the net in only one of their 24 fixtures so far this season.
German football comes back from the winter break with a fixture that rarely needs any extra selling: Eintracht Frankfurt against Borussia Dortmund at Deutsche Bank Park. It lands with both clubs sitting exactly where the league table says they belong right now — Frankfurt seventh on 25 points, Dortmund second on 32 — and with both sides still carrying visible fingerprints from how the first half of the campaign played out.
Frankfurt’s season has been noisy in patches and stubborn in others. They’ve suffered only one defeat in their last nine games, but that sequence contains a 6-0 loss to RB Leipzig that still reads like an alarm bell. Dortmund, meanwhile, have been living with the frustration of five draws, but they’ve also built a body of work that keeps them in the slipstream at the top end: one Bundesliga defeat all season, and an away record that’s barely budged even after that 2-1 loss to Bayern.
The head-to-head has its own edge. These sides drew 1-1 in the DFB-Pokal on 28 October 2025, and the last six meetings across competitions include a Frankfurt 2-0 win (January 2025), a Dortmund 2-0 win (August 2024), and that chaotic 3-3 in October 2023. It’s competitive, it’s rarely comfortable, and it generally asks both teams to defend the whole width of the pitch.
Team News and Likely Set-Ups
Frankfurt’s availability picture is clear in places and awkward in others. Elias Baum is out with an inner ligament injury. Farès Chaïbi is away on national-team duty until 19 January 2026. Michy Batshuayi is missing with a foot injury. Timothy Chandler is sidelined with ankle problems. That’s a chunk of depth removed across the pitch, including a player who has been one of Frankfurt’s main chance-creators: Chaïbi has six assists in the Bundesliga.
The shape Frankfurt lean on is a 4-2-3-1. In that formation in the Bundesliga they’ve scored 11 and conceded nine across seven matches, with a 4-1-2 record. It’s a system that fits their identity: possession football, short passes, width, and a heavy bias towards attacking down the right. Ritsu Doan sits at the heart of that attacking rhythm — 15 Bundesliga appearances, four goals and four assists — while Jonathan Burkardt has been Frankfurt’s sharpest finisher with eight goals in 685 minutes. Can Uzun adds another scoring lane from the line behind with five goals and three assists.
Dortmund don’t arrive with a listed injury section here, so the best guide to their set-up is their common structure and their key contributors. Their Bundesliga formation summary points towards a 3-4-2-1, and it’s been a platform for control: 15 scored and six conceded across 10 matches in that shape, with a 6-3-1 record. Their style points towards dominating territory — controlling the game in the opposition’s half with short passes and attacking through the middle — and they also rely on an offside trap.
In terms of personnel, Dortmund’s spine is loaded with influence. Nico Schlotterbeck’s Bundesliga rating sits at 7.34, and he’s chipped in with a goal and an assist as well as three man-of-the-match awards. Waldemar Anton has played 13 league games and holds a 7.13 rating. Emre Can, used more sparingly in the league, still brings a 7.15 rating with two key traits for this kind of game: aerial presence and the ability to step into midfield.
Further forward, Serhou Guirassy leads Dortmund’s league scoring with five, while Julian Brandt and Maximilian Beier both have four. Karim Adeyemi also has four. Dortmund don’t lean on one outlet; they come at you in layers.
How the Match Could Be Played
This match lives in the space between what Frankfurt want to do and what Frankfurt are terrible at stopping. Frankfurt are very strong at attacking down the wings and very strong at stealing the ball from the opposition. They play with width, they use short passes, and they attack down the right. That means long spells where Frankfurt build patiently, lure pressure, then try to break lines and flood the wide channel.
The problem is what happens when that move breaks down. Frankfurt are very weak at defending counter attacks and very weak at avoiding individual errors. That’s not a philosophical issue; it’s a practical one. The moment Frankfurt lose the ball, the match turns into a footrace back towards their own box, and that is exactly the kind of transition Dortmund are built to exploit. Dortmund control the game in the opposition’s half, attack through the middle, and create chances using through balls. When they win it, they don’t waste time looking for the “safe” pass; they look for the damaging one.
That creates a tactical question Frankfurt must answer: do they keep committing numbers to their right-sided attacks, or do they temper it to protect the space they leave behind? Frankfurt’s own style says they will push, because that’s how they score. Their weakness says they’ll suffer for it if they’re careless.
Dortmund’s offside trap adds another layer. Frankfurt also play an offside trap, so there’s potential for a strange kind of mirror match, with both back lines trying to squeeze and both attacking lines trying to time runs. The difference is where each team’s chance-creation points. Frankfurt attack down the right and down the wings, while Dortmund attack through the middle. That means the key zones are not just the flanks; it’s the half-spaces inside Frankfurt’s wide players and in front of Frankfurt’s centre-backs, where Dortmund’s runners and passers can combine.
Frankfurt’s defensive weaknesses are particularly inconvenient against the way Dortmund can score. Frankfurt are very weak defending against long shots and weak in aerial duels. Dortmund don’t need to choose only one method. They can work shots from the edge of the box through Brandt, Beier, Adeyemi or midfield runners, and they can also turn moments into set-piece pressure — Dortmund are strong at defending set pieces, which often correlates with being structurally sound around dead balls at both ends of the pitch.
Frankfurt, to their credit, have strengths that can make this uncomfortable for any opponent. They’re strong at finishing chances, and Burkardt’s eight Bundesliga goals underline that. They’re also strong at defending set pieces. In a match where Dortmund like to control territory, Frankfurt can still win the ball and punch into wide areas, where Doan and Uzun can support Burkardt quickly. If Frankfurt steal it high — and they are very strong at stealing the ball — they can land the kind of quick, wing-led attacks that Dortmund have to defend while still trying to keep their own line high.
The match tempo should be high even if the ball sometimes isn’t. Frankfurt are non-aggressive in style terms, which means they don’t chase for the sake of it. Dortmund, however, want to play in the opposition half. That combination produces a game where Dortmund push the line up, Frankfurt try to play through and around it, and both teams accept that one mistake becomes a chance at the other end.
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The Numbers That Support the Story
The league table frames the gap, but the underlying match profile explains it. Frankfurt have scored 30 and conceded 30 in 15 Bundesliga games. That’s two goals scored per game and two conceded per game, a pure “anything can happen” profile. Dortmund have scored 26 and conceded 12 in 15, which is a tighter, more controlled footprint.
Shot volume is similar, but what it becomes is different. Frankfurt average 12.5 shots per Bundesliga game, Dortmund 11.9. That’s both teams generating regular attempts, but Frankfurt’s defensive flaws mean they also concede the sort of chances that swing matches. Across all competitions, Frankfurt have conceded 47 in 23 games, an average of 2.04 per match. Dortmund across all competitions have conceded 27 in 24, an average of 1.13. That gap is the story: Dortmund don’t need perfection to win games, because they don’t spend ninety minutes living on the edge.
The passing and possession numbers also fit the tactical picture. Frankfurt’s Bundesliga possession is 55% with 83.6% pass accuracy; Dortmund’s is 52.8% possession with 84.7% pass accuracy. Both sides want the ball, both can move it, and neither is built for purely reactive football. That raises the temperature: when both teams want to play, the match becomes about who defends transitions better, not who can keep the ball for longer.
The “score a goal” trends reinforce that inevitability. Frankfurt have scored in 19 of their last 23 matches (83%). Dortmund have scored in 23 of their last 24 (96%). In plain terms: both teams find the net most weeks, and both defences still give opportunities away.
Key “Moments” to Watch
The first moment is Frankfurt’s right-sided attacking lane. Their style is explicit: attacking down the right, playing with width, and using short passes. If that lane pins Dortmund back, Frankfurt can force the game into wide duels and deliver into the box. The danger is that a sloppy pass in that area becomes a Dortmund counter into the space Frankfurt leave behind, and Frankfurt are very weak defending counter attacks.
The second moment is the long-shot corridor. Frankfurt are very weak defending against long shots. Dortmund have multiple players who can arrive in central zones and strike: Brandt has four Bundesliga goals, Beier has four, Adeyemi has four, and even defenders like Schlotterbeck and Anton have chipped in. If Frankfurt’s midfield line gets dragged out towards the wings, the top of the box becomes Dortmund territory.
The third moment is the set-piece exchange. Frankfurt are strong defending set pieces, but Dortmund are strong defending set pieces too, and Frankfurt’s “avoiding individual errors” weakness means dead-ball defending still carries risk if the first contact is lost or a runner is missed. Frankfurt’s aerial duels weakness also matters here, even with Robin Koch winning 3.9 aerials per match; it only takes one lost duel to flip a tight game.
What could go wrong with this read? Frankfurt’s ability to come back from losing positions is a listed strength, and it can wreck any neat narrative about “control”. Dortmund’s weakness at protecting the lead keeps the door open as well. One moment of hesitation, one poor clearance, one badly timed offside line, and the match turns into a different sport.
Best Bet for Eintracht Frankfurt vs Borussia Dortmund
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Borussia Dortmund to Win
The tactical reality of this fixture centers on a catastrophic misalignment between Frankfurt’s defensive profile and Dortmund’s offensive strengths. While Frankfurt sit in a respectable seventh position, they have conceded 30 goals in just 15 Bundesliga matches—an average of two per game. This defensive fragility is particularly exposed by their specific weaknesses: they are very weak at defending counter-attacks and prone to individual errors. Dortmund, currently second in the table with only one league defeat all season, are the most efficient side in the division at exploiting exactly these flaws.
Dortmund’s dominance in the opposition half is a hallmark of their style. They prioritize controlling territory with short passing and look to penetrate through the middle using through balls. This directly attacks Frankfurt’s soft center. Furthermore, Frankfurt’s struggle to defend against long shots is a major liability against a Dortmund roster featuring Julian Brandt, Maximilian Beier, and Karim Adeyemi, all of whom have already netted four times this season. Dortmund do not rely on a single goalscorer; they possess a layered attack that can hurt Frankfurt from distance or via quick transitions.
The availability of personnel further tips the scales toward the visitors. Frankfurt enter this clash without Farès Chaibi, who is away on international duty. His absence is significant, as he has been their primary creative engine with six league assists. Losing that spark makes it harder for Frankfurt to pin Dortmund back, allowing the visitors to dictate the rhythm. While Frankfurt’s Jonathan Burkardt remains a threat with eight goals, Dortmund’s defensive unit, led by the highly rated Nico Schlotterbeck (7.34 rating), has been far more disciplined, conceding only 12 goals in the league compared to Frankfurt’s 30. Dortmund’s ability to maintain a high offside trap and control the game through the middle means they are perfectly equipped to absorb Frankfurt’s wing-based attacks and strike back decisively.
What could go wrong
Frankfurt are very strong at stealing the ball from the opposition and attacking down the right through Ritsu Doan. If they can force turnovers high up the pitch and clinical finisher Jonathan Burkardt converts his limited opportunities, they could punish Dortmund’s own high defensive line. Additionally, Frankfurt have a noted strength in coming back from losing positions, meaning a single-goal lead for Dortmund may never be entirely secure.
Correct score lean: 1-2
A 1-2 victory for the visitors is the most logical outcome given the scoring trends of both teams. Frankfurt have scored in 83% of their matches this season and remain dangerous at home, particularly through their right-sided attacks and clinical finishing. However, their defensive record of conceding two goals per game on average suggests they will struggle to keep a clean sheet against a Dortmund side that has failed to score in only one of their 24 matches across all competitions. Dortmund’s superior defensive structure and higher quality in central areas should allow them to outscore the hosts in a competitive but decisive encounter.
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