Another eagerly anticipated weekend in the Bundesliga kicks off on Friday night when Champions League chasers Borussia Monchengladbach make the trip to take on a Freiburg side who have European ambitions of their own.
These two sides have returned to action with very different form but they both have the chance to make an early stride in their quest for their overall aim, and put the pressure on those who play later on this weekend.
Freiburg
Freiburg are yet to pick up a victory since the Bundesliga returned to action last month. In the four matches they have played, they have racked up a couple of draws and a pair of defeats, with the worrying trend that both their losses in that period have come in their home ground, a run they will be eager to end here. Not only have they lost both of those matches but they have failed to score a goal in them, and looked pretty ordinary in both it has to be said.
Their home form hasn’t been anything to write home about all season to be fair. They have picked up just 20 of the 42 points available to them on their own patch and in 14 matches have only found the net 16 times. Clearly a dramatic improvement is going to be needed if they are to finish the campaign with a flourish. If there is a positive for them then apart from a wacky match against Eintracht Frankfurt, they have looked pretty tight at the back.
Borussia Monchengladbach
The visitors head to Freiburg in a much more confident position after a couple of wins from their four matches since the return but even they have shown vulnerabilities and weaknesses in that period. They have enjoyed good wins over Eintracht Frankfurt and Union Berlin but a defeat to Bayer Leverkusen was a costly one and they didn’t really inspire in any way in a goalless draw with struggling Werder Bremen either.
There are positives for Monchengladbach aside from their form since the return. They are one of the better sides in the division on their travels and are unbeaten in five on the road. Their attack looks in decent order so if they can remain tight at the back they will feel they have every chance of winning this match and putting pressure on the likes of Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig and steal a march in the race for the top four.
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Team News
Freiburg are concerned over the chances of Robin Koch featuring in this match after he exited the loss to Bayer Leverkusen last week early. Janik Haberer is another doubt for the home side ahead of the contest.
The visitors remain without a handful of players with Fabian Johnson, Tobial Strobl and Denis Zakaria all sidelined while there are doubts over Raffael too. Breel Embolo is expected to miss out with injury as well.
Betting
This isn’t the easiest match to start off the weekend with from a betting point of view. I say that because although Borussia Monchengladbach look to be worthy favourites, they are a little short for my liking, as a lot of away sides are starting to be with the current trend of home teams struggling. I actually think the visitors will win this match but they have put in one or two too many poor displays for me to be ploughing into them at odds on.
If they are going to be successful though then I would expect Marcus Thuram to be a threat. With Breel Embolo missing, Thuram is likely to continue to be a focal point to the Gladbach attack. He has four goals since the Bundesliga returned, including a brace last week so he looks to be full of confidence right now and can be the man to make a difference. I don’t want to get too stuck into this match as better opportunities come later in the weekend but the 6/4 on him scoring anytime looks a little too big in his present form.
Tips
Back M.Thuram to score anytime for a 2/10 stake at 2.50 with Betfair
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