Match Preview: Brentford v Frankfurt | OneFootball

Brentford complete their pre-season preparations against Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt at Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday afternoon (3pm kick-off BST).

Keith Andrews’ side host the German outfit in their final fixture before the 2026/27 Premier League campaign begins at home to Tottenham Hotspur, giving supporters one final chance to see the Bees in action before the new season gets underway.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more, here’s everything you need to know ahead of the game.

Tickets are available for Saturday’s final pre-season fixture at the Gtech. Secure your seat here.

Pre-match analysis

Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Why Frankfurt will provide a high-intensity final pre-season test

Brentford take on Eintracht Frankfurt in their final pre-season friendly of the summer, and the intensity should ramp up a notch just a week out from the Bees' Premier League opener against Tottenham Hotspur.

Frankfurt finished eighth in the Bundesliga last season after a topsy-turvy campaign which saw them part company with Dino Toppmöller and later Albert Riera, before reappointing Adi Hütter at the end of May.

Despite losing Omar Marmoush midway through the 2024/25 campaign and Hugo Ekitiké the following summer, Eintracht bagged a respectable haul of 61 goals last term, but their efforts in attack were undermined by issues at the other end of the pitch.

Only two teams, Heidenheim and Wolfsburg, shipped more goals than Frankfurt (65) over the course of the season, with the German side's vulnerability on the break underlined by the 10 goals they conceded from counter attacks.

Frankfurt's expected goals against (xGA) figure of 50.90 suggests the underlying defensive picture wasn't quite as bleak as the raw total, but Hütter will nevertheless look to shore things up before his side’s first competitive fixture of the season against SC St. Tönis in the German Cup.

There have been encouraging signs so far in pre-season for Eintracht, who have combined positive results with a strong defensive record.

Tactically, Hütter favours flexible football with an emphasis on vertical attacks and intense pressing, and last season's numbers suggest some of those foundations are already in place.

Only four sides recorded a lower passes per defensive action (PPDA) figure than Eintracht in the German top flight in 2025/26, so Brentford's backline should expect to be pressured in possession on Saturday. PPDA measures how many passes a team allows their opponent before making a defensive action, with a lower figure generally indicating a more aggressive press.

In terms of personnel, Eintracht have a couple of exciting forwards to keep Keith Andrews' side on their toes.

Although he missed large chunks of the season through injury, Jonathan Burkardt established himself as one of the Bundesliga's sharpest finishers last term, with his 13 league goals arriving at an average of one every 103 minutes.

The Germany international has been joined this season by 23-year-old signing Noel Futkeu, who finished last season as the top scorer in Bundesliga 2. Futkeu hit 19 goals for a struggling Greuther Fürth side in the second tier, with seven strikes from inside the six-yard box illustrating his ability to sniff out high-quality opportunities at close range.

Eintracht may have seen Nathaniel Brown join Bayern Munich for big money this summer, but they have retained some highly regarded defensive talent in the shape of Nnamdi Collins.

Linked with a host of Premier League clubs, including Liverpool, the 22-year-old is robust defensively and measured in possession. A good battle should be in store against Igor Thiago, who scored in his first pre-season appearance for the Bees in last weekend's 4-2 win over Rennes.

Scout report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: How Frankfurt are rebuilding after a season of upheaval

A little more than a year ago, Eintracht Frankfurt were celebrating.

Under Dino Toppmöller, they had finished third in the Bundesliga, equalling their best-ever finish in the competition and securing their highest placing since 1992/93.

Marmoush had earned a January move to Manchester City following an astonishing return of 20 goals and 14 assists in just 26 games in all competitions, but Ekitiké remained at the club and spearheaded the attack.

That feeling of celebration must have felt like a lifetime ago last term.

Ekitiké was sold to Liverpool in July 2025 and the demands of Champions League football soon caught up with Eintracht. They started with a 5-1 win over Galatasaray, but picked up just one more point across their remaining seven league-phase games, conceding 20 goals along the way.

Before their participation in Europe ended, though, Toppmöller was sacked on 18 January, when Eintracht were seventh. Dennis Schmitt took charge in the interim and oversaw four games, all of which ended in defeat.

At the start of February, Riera signed a two-and-a-half-year contract to succeed Toppmöller. The former Liverpool, Manchester City and Watford player had been coaching for four years and his appointment created intrigue. He had enjoyed success in Slovenia, but had never managed in one of Europe’s top five leagues.

But he could only win four of the 14 Bundesliga games he took charge of, which saw Eintracht fall away from contention for European qualification, then miss out altogether. They finished eighth, 15 points off qualifying for the Europa League and 18 off qualifying for the Champions League.

Bundesliga and European football pundit Ronan Murphy suggested in his opposition insight that “a personality clash” was a factor in Riera’s exit. He left by mutual consent the day after the 2025/26 season ended.

And so the club moved swiftly to secure the return of Adi Hütter as head coach on a three-year contract.

He had managed the club between 2018 and 2021, taking them to the Europa League semi-finals in 2018/19, the DFB-Pokal semi-finals the following season and a fifth-place finish in the Bundesliga in 2020/21.

“For me, it’s very special and emotional to be coach at Eintracht again,” he said. “The time we had together left a big impression on me and has always stayed with me. Looking back, I always had the feeling of having unfinished business.

“We will do everything to ensure that the team delights the fans next season.”

Qualifying for Europe, in whichever competition that may be, will remain the aim for Eintracht Frankfurt next season. It will be a welcome challenge, given the speed at which that target ebbed away last time around.

And with a familiar face at the helm and fewer games to juggle following their failure to qualify for Europe, they should be in an ideal position to make that ambition a reality.

In the dugout

Adi Hütter

Adi Hütter had a long playing career in his native Austria, spanning just shy of two decades.

There were three separate spells at Grazer AK and he also spent time at LASK, Rheindorf Altach, Kapfenberger SV and Red Bull Salzburg Juniors.

But the most successful period came with Austria Salzburg, prior to their rebrand as Red Bull Salzburg in 2005. Between 1993 and 2000, Hütter played more than 250 times, winning three Austrian Bundesliga titles and three Austrian Supercups. During that time, he also earned 14 senior caps for Austria.

He retired in 2007, but continued with Red Bull Salzburg Juniors, first as assistant, then as head coach in his own right the following year.

Next came a return to former club Rheindorf Altach in 2009, where he secured two straight second-place finishes in the Austrian second tier, before being sacked in April 2012 when promotion again looked unlikely.

He achieved promotion with SV Grödig in 2012/13, before taking them to third in the Austrian Bundesliga the following season.

A return to Red Bull Salzburg followed, with Hütter overseeing a Bundesliga and Austrian Cup double, but he left by mutual consent in the summer of 2015 and was appointed head coach of Young Boys that September.

There were two second-place finishes in the Swiss Super League, then a first league title in 32 years. He ended on the highest of highs before taking up his first role in Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt in July 2018.

That season, Hütter took the club to the semi-finals of the Europa League, while securing a seventh-place Bundesliga finish. He stayed for three years before leaving for Borussia Mönchengladbach, but departed by mutual consent at the end of a disappointing 2021/22 campaign.

He ticked off a fourth league in July 2023 when he took over at Monaco. There was a second-place Ligue 1 finish in 2023/24 and a third-place finish in 2024/25, but just seven games into the 2025/26 season, he was sacked.

Hütter remained out of work until May, when he signed a three-year deal to join Frankfurt for a second time.

The gameplan

With Ronan Murphy, Bundesliga and European football pundit

Bundesliga and European football pundit Ronan Murphy explains the sort of test Brentford can expect from Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday afternoon.

“Every new coach says they want to play exciting, attacking football when they are appointed," he told brentfordfc.com. "Fans always want to hear that, but often it does not work out that way.

“Riera promised an energetic game, but it quickly turned into dour football which did not please the supporters or the board.

“Hütter looks to be putting his money where his mouth is in pre-season so far, with a high-pressing game in which Eintracht's players battle for every second ball and attempt to switch the play quickly to create overloads.

“Burkardt has said it is ‘a lot of fun’, and the players appear to have fully bought in.”

Last time out

Rennes 2 Brentford 4 (Pre-season fixture, 8 August 2026)

Brentford recorded an entertaining 4-2 victory over Rennes at Roazhon Park in their penultimate pre-season fixture of the summer.

Igor Thiago, making his first appearance of pre-season following his return from the World Cup with Brazil, headed the Bees in front from Mathias Jensen’s corner before Ethan Pinnock doubled the advantage nine minutes later.

Sebastian Szymański pulled one back less than a minute after the restart, but Dango Ouattara restored Brentford’s two-goal lead before Callum Wilson struck two minutes later to make it 4-1.

Valentin Rongier reduced the deficit on 71 minutes, while Fábio Carvalho hit the post and Wilson was denied a second goal during the closing stages.