Both teams will be aiming to return to winning ways when Freiburg host SV Darmstadt 98 in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Freiburg have failed to win any of their last three league games, while Darmstadt ended a three-match losing streak by drawing against Mainz 05 last time out.
Match preview
© Reuters
Although Freiburg's start to the season has been relatively disappointing considering that they have claimed successive top-six finishes in the last two campaigns, Christian Streich will take solace from the fact that all five of his side's defeats have come to the top five teams in the table.
Their latest loss came when RB Leipzig defeated them 3-1 at the Red Bull Arena prior to the international break, with late strikes from Lois Openda and Christoph Baumgartner taking the game away from their opponents. Merlin Rohl had equalised in the sixth minute of first-half injury time, but Freiburg could not hold onto a precious point.
With a much more favourable fixture list between now and the winter break, Streich will be urging his players to put more points on the board as they aim to secure European qualification once again. They can book their place in the knockout stages of the Europa League for the second successive season by avoiding defeat against Olympiacos at Europa-Park Stadion on Thursday.
In the meantime, though, they will be targeting all three points against newly-promoted Darmstadt this weekend, as they aim to close the four-point gap between themselves and Eintracht Frankfurt in seventh position.
© Reuters
Darmstadt, meanwhile, ensured that they remained outside of the relegation places during the recent international break by playing out a goalless stalemate against struggling Mainz.
In a match devoid of clear-cut chances, Darmstadt were perhaps slightly unfortunate not to claim all three points having forced Robin Zentner into three saves and dominated possession with 57% of the ball. Still, it put an end to their run of three successive defeats and kept them above their opponents in the table.
Perhaps even more importantly, it was the first time that the Lillies have kept a clean sheet since gaining promotion from the second tier, but Torsten Lieberknecht's side still possess the worst defensive record in the division by some margin.
With crucial matches against FC Koln and Heidenheim to come at the beginning of December, there is less pressure riding on Darmstadt's trip to Freiburg this weekend, but any point that they can pick up between now and the end of the season could prove crucial in terms of their quest to avoid relegation.
Team News
© Reuters
Freiburg will rmemain without Christian Gunter, Daniel-Kofi Kyereh, Max Rosenfelder, Maximilian Philipp, Lukas Kubler and Yannik Keitel due to injury, while Roland Sallai is unlikely to be risked due to a thigh issue.
As such, Streich's options to mix things up are clearly severely restricted at the moment, meaning that 21-year-old Rohl is likely to keep his place after scoring in his side's last two matches in all competitions.
Darmstadt, meanwhile, will travel without Christoph Klarer due to suspension after the central defender collected his fifth booking of the season against Mainz.
However, Fabian Holland, Klaus Gjasula and Matej Maglica will all return from their own recent bans, with Lieberknecht likely to be calling for greater discipline from his players.
All three players should slot straight back into the visitors' starting XI, but forwards Braydon Manu and Fabio Torsiello could miss out through injury.
Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Atubolu; Ginter, Lienhart, Gulde; Sildillia, Eggestein, Hofler, Weisshaupt; Rohl, Grifo; Holer
SV Darmstadt 98 possible starting lineup:
Schuhen; Zimmermann, Gjasula, Maglica; Bader, Kempe, Holland, Nurnberger; Mehlem; Pfeiffer, Skarke
We say: Freiburg 0-0 SV Darmstadt 98
Although Freiburg will expect to return to winning ways in this match, their extensive injury list clearly makes them a less effective team at present, and we can envisage the visitors making life difficult for their opponents.
Darmstadt will have taken great confidence from keeping their first clean sheet of the season against Mainz, and we would not be surprised to see them involved in another goalless draw this weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Brett Curtis
