In their 12th Bundesliga game of the season, strugglers Heidenheim will hope to beat title hopefuls Eintracht Frankfurt when they welcome them to Voith-Arena on Sunday.

Heidenheim will be bitterly disappointed by their defeat against Leverkusen considering they had taken a 2-0 lead after just 21 minutes but found themselves level at half time and trailed 3-2 by the 52nd minute.

Long-term manager Frank Schmidt blamed the loss on injury issues, saying: "It all worked well until Marvin Pieringer's injury. When he was still out injured, Leverkusen had a really big chance. Then we can change and then Leverkusen manages to equalize to 2-2 in a very short time, because we didn't get into the duels quickly in that phase."

To make matters worse, the hosts also lost 2-0 against Chelsea in the Europa Conference League on Thursday, a result that left them in ninth place with nine points after four matchdays.

Heidenheim are in poor form having lost five of their last six games in all competitions and have in fact lost five and drawn one of their six most recent Bundesliga games.

The hosts have similarly struggled at home, with the team succumbing to defeat in seven of their last nine league outings at Voith-Arena.

Meanwhile, Eintracht Frankfurt are six points behind leaders Bayern Munich and are two points ahead of second-placed RB Leipzig.

The Eagles created three big chances and only faced one themselves against Werder Bremen, and proved resilient without the ball in the second half considering the victors only mustered 44% possession in the second 45 minutes.

Head coach Dino Toppmoller praised his team's defensive work in the aftermath of the victory, saying: "The fans expected more of an attacking spectacle but both teams defended very well. There's been a lot of talk about our attack recently – today we were defensively very good."

Toppmoller will also have been delighted with his side's 2-1 win against Midtjylland in the Europa League on Thursday given the victory means they now have 13 points from five matches in the tournament and are in third place.

Eintracht Frankfurt have been outstanding in recent weeks, with the team unbeaten in their last eight games while having won their last six and scoring 16 goals in that time.

The visitors have also only lost one of their past seven away matches, winning on five occasions.

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