Matchday in focus: Hamburger SV

In partnership with

Eintracht Frankfurt

·2 May 2026

Matchday in focus: Hamburger SV

An in-depth look at Hamburger SV, who employ a 3-4-2-1 formation and rely on the attacking talents of midfielder Fábio Vieira.

Tactics

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HSV head coach Merlin Polzin uses a 3-4-2-1 formation and doesn’t tend to make major changes to his starting XI. In last week’s 2-1 home defeat against TSG Hoffenheim, first-choice goalkeeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes was between the posts, with Warmed Omari, Jordan Torunarigha and Nicolas Capaldo forming the three-man backline in front of him.

William Mikelbrencis, Albert Grønbæk, Nicolai Remberg and Bakery Jatta occupied the four midfield positions, while Fábio Vieira pulled the strings in the No.10 role ahead of them. Ransford-Yeboah and Robert Glatzel formed the strike partnership up top.

Fundamentally, HSV try to be proactive, and have the 12th-best possession quota in the top flight this season (45.7 percent). However, their running statistics leave plenty of room for improvement:

19,083 intensive runs (17th)
4,605 sprints (16th)
3,550 kilometres (16th)

Absentees

The Eagles are without injured duo Nnamdi Collins and Jens Grahl, as well as the suspended Ritsu Doan.

HSV must make do without Fernando Dickes and Miro Muheim (both injured) and Philip Otele, who is finishing a two-match ban for a red card. Alexander Røssing-Lelesiit is rated as doubtful.

One to watch: Fábio Vieira

Vieira was HSV’s fastest player against Hoffenheim with a top speed 34.04 km/h, and is routinely the team’s creative outlet, setting the tone in attack with precision passing.

The Portuguese midfielder, who arrived on loan from Arsenal in summer 2025, is HSV’s most dangerous attacker this term. Vieira joined the Gunners in 2022 but returned to Porto on loan in 2024/25, scoring four goals in 26 league outings.

Furthermore …

… he reached the U21 European Championship final in 2021 with Portugal and was voted as the tournament’s best player. Incidentally, Germany won the decider 1-0, in a match in which Jonathan Burkardt featured as a substitute.
… he won the FA Community Shield with Arsenal in 2023.
… alongside Luka Vuskovic, Ransford Königsdörffer, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Rayan Philippe, Vieira is one of five players on five goals as joint-top scorer for HSV this season.
… he has a team-best five assists in 2025/26.

Facts and figures

This fixture is one between two of the Bundesliga’s founding members. Their first top-flight meeting was almost 63 years ago, on 14 September 1963. Of the teams’ 99 Bundesliga encounters so far, Eintracht have won 32, drawn 26 and lost 41, with a goal difference of 124:162. However, the Eagles are unbeaten against HSV in their last 13 top-flight matches dating back to 2011. Frankfurt have the third-most efficient attack in the Bundesliga this season with a chance conversion rate of 14.9 percent. By way of contrast, only two teams have a worse figure than HSV’s nine percent. Only Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen have scored more than Hamburg’s ten Bundesliga goals on the counter this season, while Eintracht and Stuttgart have conceded more in transition than anyone else (also ten).