Bergmann confident

The Reds' coach has taken confidence from the last home game (a 5-2 victory over Freiburg) and also from the work ethic and morale among the squad. Credit has to go to the squad who pulled together with so many players away both before and during the international break, according to Bergmann.

In terms of player availability, Robert Enke has returned to training but is still unavailable for the clash in Frankfurt. Salvatore Zizzo will be out for a prolonged period following the serious knee injury he picked up during the week, while 'Kocka' Rausch is still not 100 per cent. The same goes for Mario Eggimann, who has however rejoined first team training. There is still a question mark over the availability of winger Valdet Rama, who is suffering from a bruised calf, but Sergio Pinto, who scored a cracker on matchday eight against Freiburg, is ready and raring to go.

Will Ioannis Amanatidis win his race for fitness? (Quelle:Getty Images)

Amanatidis could miss out

While Andi Bergmann is likely to go with the same starting eleven as his last outing, Frankfurt coach Michael Skibbe will be forced to rejig his formation. Suspension has robbed him of regular first teamers Pirmin Schwegler, Marco Russ and Selim Teber, while Markus Pröll, Christoph Preuß and Aleksandar Vasoski are all injured. Meanwhile, there is a big question mark over the fitness of Ioannis Amanatidis - whose presence would be a huge loss for Frankfurt, particularly considering that he has scored four of his side's eight goals this season. Martin Fenin could come in as a replacement, while Patrick Ochs is likely to fill the void in midfield, meaning U20 international Sebastian Jung will start at right-back.

As always, expectation levels in Frankfurt are high. Friedhelm Funkel was of course forced out of the club in the end due to fan pressure, despite managing to keep the club in the league. Funkel's replacement, Michael Skibbe, has given new cause for optimism at the club: After the surprising opening day 3-2 win over Werder Bremen, the men from Hesse went five matches unbeaten, although they were hardly satisfied with the draws. In their past two games, Frankfurt have been anything but lethal in attack, losing 3-0 to VfB Stuttgart and 2-0 to Schalke 04 without as much as a whimper.

Time to forget the past

Skibbe's troops are now hoping for all three points against Hannover "in order to give ourselves a bit of perspective and to establish ourselves among the leading pack." While the 44-year-old coach doesn't see the match as the be-all-and-end-all, 96 coach Andi Bergmann believes the match is "just as important as any other Bundesliga match." The Hannover fans will have bad memories of last season's 4-0 defeat, in which Nikos Liberopoulos (2), Marco Russ and Martin Fenin grabbed the decisive goals.

In their last home match against SC Freiburg, the Reds put in an excellent attacking performance and will be hoping that the international break does not take their rhythm away against Eintracht.

Hopefully they'll be celebrating again! (Quelle: Getty Images)

Will the Reds be able to overtake the Eagles?
"We don't want to wait, we want to act," said Bergmann to rally his troops ahead of the away match. "We'll be looking to create chances in attack." Still, he wants his team to "stay calm and play football," just as they did last time out against Freiburg. If they can do so, the Reds would overtake the Eagles in the table - which would be very nice indeed!

Top facts:

- Hannover have only won one of their past six matches against Frankfurt

- They haven't managed a goal against them in 282 minutes of football either - the last one came from Chavdar Yankov (now at Duisburg) in 2006

- Hannover have drawn more games against Frankfurt than any other side (14)

- Eintracht have not won at home in seven outings - more than any other Bundesliga club

- Frankfurt are the only side not to have scored with a header this term.

Possible starting line ups:

Eintracht Frankfurt: Nikolov - Jung, Franz, Chris, Spycher - Bajramovic - Ochs, Steinhöfer (Caio), Köhler (Korkmaz) - Meier - Fenin (Liberopoulos)

Hannover 96: Fromlowitz - Cherundolo, Haggui, Schulz, Djakpa - Balitsch - Sofian Chahed (Pinto), Bruggink, Rosenthal - Stajner, Ya Konan