Eintracht Frankfurt will be looking to continue their best European run since 1980 when they host Premier League side Chelsea at Commerzbank-Arena on Thursday for the first leg of their UEFA Europa League semi-final tie. The two teams have never met before in an European competition, but both have played numerous times in such events. Eintracht Frankfurt have won just two of the seven European matches they played against English sides and both wins were at home, while Chelsea have won ten of their nineteen matches against German teams, but only three out of eight away from home.
Eintracht Frankfurt have surprised everybody during the knockout phase of this season's UEFA Europa League, first they defied the odds in a spectacular 6-3 aggregate victory over Shakhtar Donetsk, then they pulled off a surprising 1-0 victory at Inter Milan to pull through to the quarter-finals, and last but not least they fought back from a 4-2 first-leg defeat at Benfica to qualify with a 2-0 victory at home. This is their best European run since 1980, when they grabbed the club's only continental trophy after defeating Borussia Monchengladbach in the UEFA Cup final. After the intense second-leg victory over Benfica, Eintracht Frankfurt collected back-to-back draws in the Bundesliga but remain in fourth place for now. Ante Rebic is suspended for this match, while Sebastien Haller, Marc Stendera, Marco Russ, Timothy Chandler and Taleb Tawatha are all injured.
Chelsea could rescue their season with the Europa League, both by bringing in the glory of a continental trophy and also by securing qualification for next season's UEFA Champions League. Chelsea have not won a continental trophy since 2013, when they defeated Benfica in the UEFA Cup final. So far the Blues had a rather easy path in the knockout rounds of this season's Europa League, they went past Malmo FF, Dynamo Kyiv and Slavia Prague. In the Premier League they were held to draws in the last two matches by Burnley and Manchester United, but they also managed to hold on to their fourth place in the league table. Antonio Rudiger and Callum Hudson-Odoi picked up injuries lately and both could be out for the remainder of the season, while Willian is a doubt for this game.
Probable line-ups:
Frankfurt: Trapp - Ndicka, Hinteregger, Hasebe - Costa, Rode, Fernandes, Kostic - Gacinovic - Paciencia, Jovic
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga - Azpilicueta, Christensen, Luiz, Alonso - Kante, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek - Pedro, Giroud, Hazard
My prediction: 1-1 draw, Chelsea are not in great shape at the moment but they should be able to return from Frankfurt undefeated.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Frankfurt win - 2.80
Draw - 3.40
Chelsea win - 2.70
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