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NederlandTwo winless sides in the new Bundesliga campaign go head to head on Saturday afternoon, as Arminia Bielefeld welcome Eintracht Frankfurt to the Schuco-Arena.
The hosts have begun the new season with two low-key draws, whilst the visitors earned their first point last weekend after an opening day thrashing.
Match preview
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Although Arminia Bielefeld's start has been rather uneventful in the league, manager Frank Kramer will be pleased to have seen his side show resilience and defensive solidarity in their unbeaten start.
The first competitive match of the new season was anything but uneventful though - a crazy 6-3 win over amateur side SpVgg Bayreuth saw Bielefeld progress to the second round of the DFB-Pokal.
Since then though, the priorities have focused on remaining hard to beat. An opening day 0-0 draw at home to Freiburg, followed by a 1-1 draw away to newly-promoted Greuther Furth, emphasise this point.
Kramer will have been particularly impressed with last weekend's 1-1 draw considering his side played the last 20 minutes with 10 men, after Alessandro Schopf was sent off for a second yellow card.
Fabian Klos had given Bielefeld the lead on the stroke of half time, but after conceding via a penalty early into the second half, their backs were to the wall for large parts of the remainder of the match.
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Meanwhile, whilst the hosts have at least tasted victory outside of the Bundesliga in the opening matches of the new season, Frankfurt make the trip to Bielefeld winless in all of their three competitive matches.
After only just missing out on the Champions League places last campaign, Frankfurt's new manager Oliver Glasner would have been hoping for a positive start after arriving with big shoes to fill, following the departure of Adi Hutter to Borussia Monchengladbach.
Instead, his new side have begun with a humiliating 2-0 defeat to third-tier side Waldhof Mannheim in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, followed by an opening day hammering and a goalless draw.
The big defeat in the opening league match did at least occur away to giants Borussia Dortmund, although Glasner would have hoped for a closer encounter than a 5-2 scoreline.
Frankfurt followed up that disappointment by tightening up defensively, but also by tightening up at the other end of the pitch as well.
The 0-0 draw at home to Augsburg last weekend was a poor result for a side hoping to be in and around the European places again this season, although the performance was an improvement, with a domination of possession and the restriction of their opposition to no attempts on target.
The trip to Bielefeld will be viewed as a good opportunity to earn that first win, after thrashing their opponents 5-1 in this fixture back in January.
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Team News
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After his red card last time out, Alessandro Schopf misses out for the hosts against Frankfurt, as he serves his one-match suspension. Robin Hack is expected to take his place in the starting lineup.
New signing Sebastian Vasiliadis remains out with an ankle injury that he picked up back in May with previous club SC Paderborn, but Bielefeld have no other players missing.
Meanwhile, the transfer speculation continues to swirl around Frankfurt's key man Filip Kostic, as he is being linked with a move to Italian side Lazio. Subject to a drastic change in circumstances, he should remain available for the trip to Bielefeld though.
Sebastian Rode (knee) and Almamy Toure (lack of match fitness) are missing for the visitors, whilst Erik Durm remains a doubt with a muscular problem.
Arminia Bielefeld possible starting lineup:
Ortega; Brunner, Pieper, Nilsson, Laursen; Kunze, Prietl, Okugawa; Hack; Klos, Lasme
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Da Costa, N'Dicka, Hinteregger, Lenz; Sow, Hrustic; Hauge, Lindstrom, Kostic; Borre
We say: Arminia Bielefeld 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
A tough match to call here between two sides struggling for goals and a win at the start of the new campaign. For this reason, we say a hard-fought 1-1 draw is to be the outcome in scenarios such as this one.
