As was the case last week, the Wolves go into Matchday 13 of the Bundesliga season against a side currently in the UEFA Champions League qualifying spots when they face Frankfurt on Sunday 2 December (kick-off 18:00 CET). The Eagles, undefeated in their last 11 outings in all competitions, are arguably the most in-form team in Germany at present and qualified for the UEFA Europa League knockout rounds with a game to spare on Thursday. As such, Bruno Labbadia's charges will have to be wary come kick-off. At his pre-match press conference on Friday, the VfL head coach discussed…
…personnel: "Maximilian Arnold had cold chills yesterday and wasn't able to train as a result. He was a bit better in the evening but we need to wait and see if it makes sense for him to train today. John Anthony Brooks and Admir Mehmedi were both able to train again and should be available for the game."
…Eintracht Frankfurt: "Frankfurt are playing very well at the moment, but there's more to them than just the three up front; they're a team that functions in all departments. You could see they were really up for it in the Europa League and there's a great sense of euphoria in the city. I'm sure the atmosphere will be fantastic at the stadium on Sunday. We know what to expect. It's down to us stop Eintracht playing to their strengths, which won't be easy, and we also want to implement our own strengths. I'm looking forward to it."
…tactical formations: "We need to weigh up which system best suits us against the opposition in this match. It's good that we've become more flexible. It's really good that we were able to play with three different formations against Leipzig, but we don't have a problem only playing just the one system either."
…the approach to this season: "I like that we're trying to play our own game this season. We're trying to impose ourselves on the opposition and play out bravely from the back. It's especially important to do that at times when you maybe didn't get the result you wanted but you show that you're sticking to your guns. We need to start picking up better results now. We did that really well against Leipzig. We didn't allow them many chances in front of goal, created several ourselves and then won the game, which did us a lot of good."
