First of the two remaining clashes of the German Bundesliga round 9 that will take place on Sunday will be played out at Schwarzwald Stadium in Freiburg between hosts and visitors from the German capital, Hertha Berlin. The SC Freiburg team is coming off from 5:0 demolition at Allianz Arena last weekend and some kind of a positive result this week is an imperative.
On the other side, the Blue-Whites from Berlin are currently riding a three-game winless streak and they are also in a desperate need of the performance that will satisfy their fans. They disappointed at home soil last week with an easy loss by Schalke 04 team and on Thursday night they received another blow when they got defeated by the Ukrainian side Zorya Lugansk, 2:1 on the road as part of the Round 3 in the group stage of the UEFA Europea League competition.
SC Freiburg vs. Hertha BSC
Three-Way: 1: SC Freiburg +183; X: +229 Draw; Hertha BSC +190
Spread 0: SC Freiburg -106; Hertha BSC +102
Total +2: Over -130; Under +122
SC FREIBURG
The team from the Black Forrest (germ. Schwarzwald) has been having a solid season start if we count only the matches in front of their own crowd but on the road, the teams’ numbers are terrifying as they’ve managed to concede 14 goals in four games while scoring only one. This terrible goal difference is the main reason for teams’ below relegation line league spot because they have earned the same number of points as 15th ranked Hamburger SV squad.
Their overall record is 1-4-3 (1-3-0 at home) and their goal difference at Schwarzwald stadium is 4-3. 50% of their matches had over 2.5 goals in total while 25% of their home games had over 3.5 goals in total. Two of eight Freiburg’s duels so far had over 2.5 goals at half-time while both teams scored in 38% of their showdowns. They’ve managed to score at least one goal in both halves in 12% of their matches while they’ve managed to concede at least one goal in both halves in 38% of those games.
Head coach Christian Streich prefers the defensive approach and that didn’t do him much good this season, especially on the road. His favorite scheme is 5-3-2 with Stenzel, Lienhart, Schuster, Soyuncu and Gunter in front of goalie Schowlow as the defensive line while Frantz, Hifler and Haberer usually start as midfielders. Niederlechner and Kent is his favorite choice at centre-forward position. Forward Florian Niederlechner tops the team in scoring with two goals so far while Nils Petersen, Caglas Soyuncu and Pascal Stenzel have one each in their accounts. Midfielder Nicolas Hofler collected team-high two assists while defender Philipp Lienhart controls the passing segment with 243 total passes. Goalkeeper Alexander Schowlow has 161 shots against, 35 saves and three clean-sheet games at the moment.
Manuel Gulde (back) should be back in a few weeks while Karim Guede’s (ligament), Onur Bulut’s (thigh), Vincent Sierro’s (muscle) and Jonas Meffert’s (foot) status is unknown. Amir Abrashi (ankle) is listed as day to day while Georg Niedermeier (back) and Marc-Oliver Kempf are back in training.
HERTHA BSC
If this was 2016 season, Hertha team would be at a much higher position in the league table having in mind their record at home last year and the fact they’ve had a very preferable schedule this year with five games in Berlin and only three on the road so far. Nevertheless, that is not the case as seven possible points that they could’ve earned at Olympic Stadium so far are already dropped (2-2-1 record at home). They are even worse on the road with one draw and two defeats and that is the reason why they find themselves at No. 13 spot with nine points in eight games.
They score 1.00 and concede 1.25 goals per match (8-10 goal difference, 1-4 on the road) while every single road game so far had under 2.5 goals in total. Both teams scored in only 33% of Hertha’s total duels as they’ve failed to score in two of three visiting games. In one of those road trips, they’ve even managed to concede at least one goal in both halves. Genki Haraguchi’s red card on Saturday was the main reason team couldn’t get a positive result against the Miners. Head coach Pal Dardai started the game with a 4-2-3-1 scheme but the agreed tactics fell down the well when the Blues were left with one player less on the field. Most often starters this year are Jarstein as a goalie and Plattenhardt, Rekik, Stark and Pekarik in the defensive line. Skjelbred and Darida mostly start at defensive midfielder positions while Haraguchi, Duda and Weiser play more close to the opponent’s goal along with Kalou who is lone attacker in the lineup.
Mathew Leckie tops the team in scoring with four goals while Salomon Kalou has two recorded. Vedad Ibisevic is the team’s leading assister with three while Vladimir Darida, Genki Haraguchi, Marvin Plattenhardt and Karim Rekik have one each. Plattenhardt also keeps the passing segment under control with 321 total passes along with Per Skjelbred who has collected 300 so far. Goalkeeper Rune Jarstein has 91 shots against, 25 saves and one game with a clean sheet at the moment.
Haraguchi will serve a two-match suspension after that red card last week while Thomas Kraft’s (calf) and Vladimir Darida’s (knee) status is unknown. Maximillian Mittelstadt (broken nose) and Sebastian Langkamp (calf) should be available in few days while Valentin Stocker (knee) is listed as day to day. Julian Schieber (knee) is back in training.
SC Freiburg vs. Hertha BSC – Match Prediction
Last year these two teams went “three-for-three” as both squads managed to take full prey at home but the year before Freiburg had a bit more success by recording a road win (0:2 in Berlin). Prior to the last season loss, Hertha managed to snatch three consecutive draws when visiting in Freiburg and the last time they took a full prey was in 2012 season. To be honest, this duel can go either way when it comes to the final result but by my opinion, the safest bet is under 2 goals in total.
It’s hard to expect that the home team can bounce back right away after that 5:0 demolition in Munich last weekend but the Blues from capital are pretty much unpredictable and a road win right after a home loss presents a big question mark. Maybe, the most probable outcome is a draw but still, I don’t have enough cause to put that even as an additional pick. That’s why I’ll go here with “both teams don’t score” as an optional pick and I think that it could pay off. We’ll see on Sunday how right or wrong I was.
My pick: Under 2 goals (+122)
Additional Pick: Both teams score NO (-105)
