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Freiburg logo
Bundesliga | Gameweek 2
Sep 27, 2020 at 5pm UK
Schwarzwald-Stadion
Wolfsburg

Freiburg
1 - 1
Wolfsburg

Petersen (11')
FT(HT: 1-1)
Brekalo (42')
Otavio (32'), Arnold (34'), Brooks (34')

Preview: Freiburg vs. Wolfsburg - prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole previews Sunday's Bundesliga clash between Freiburg and Wolfsburg, including team news and predicted lineups.

Freiburg will be looking to make it back-to-back wins at the start of their 2020-21 Bundesliga campaign when they welcome Wolfsburg to Schwarzwald-Stadion on Sunday evening.

The home side started their league season with a 3-2 victory at Stuttgart last weekend, while Wolfsburg opened with a goalless draw against Bayer Leverkusen.


Match preview

Freiburg manager Christian Streich pictured in June 2020© Reuters

Freiburg finished eighth in the Bundesliga last season, which represented their best position since 2016-17 and followed placings of 15th and 13th in 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively.

Christian Streich's side will be looking for another top-half finish this term, but they have lost some key players this summer, with Robin Koch and Luca Waldschmidt among those to move on.

Breisgau-Brasilianer have spent £9m on French midfielder Baptiste Santamaria, though, and there could be more business at the club before the transfer window closes at the start of October.

A positive start to the campaign saw Freiburg run out 3-2 winners at Stuttgart last weekend, with Nils Peterson, Roland Sallai and Vincenzo Grifo scoring the goals for the visitors.

Wolfsburg head coach Oliver Glasner pictured in March 2020© Reuters

Wolfsburg, meanwhile, started their 2020-21 Bundesliga campaign with a goalless draw at home to Leverkusen last weekend, which will have to go down as a positive result.

The German side have also twice been in action in the qualifying rounds of this season's Europa League, beating Kukesi and Desna to set up a playoff clash with AEK Athens next Wednesday.

Die Wolfe finished seventh in the Bundesliga last season and will be desperate to qualify for the group stages of Europe's second competition, which would give their finances a huge boost during a difficult period.

The club's summer business has been modest in terms of incomings and outgoings, although they did receive more than £6m by selling central defender Felix Uduokhai to Augsburg.

Freiburg Bundesliga form: W
Freiburg form (all competitions): WW

Wolfsburg Bundesliga form: D
Wolfsburg form (all competitions): WWDW


Team News

Bayer Leverkusen's Kerem Demirbay in action with Wolfsburg's Wout Weghorst in the Bundesliga in May 2020© Reuters

Freiburg will again be without the services of Mark Flekken due to an elbow injury, while Keven Schlotterbeck and Janik Haberer are likely to miss out for the home side with muscular and ankle issues respectively.

New signing Santamaria was not involved on the opening weekend of the season but should feature here.

There are unlikely to be many changes from the side that started against Stuttgart, though, with Petersen, Sallai and Grifo all expected to keep their attacking roles alongside Lucas Holer.

As for Wolfsburg, Kevin Mbabu remains on the sidelines due to a long-term knee injury, while Brazilian defender William is also still unavailable due to a knee issue of his own.

The importance of Thursday's Europa League clash with Desna meant that head coach Oliver Glasner had to select a strong side, and there is expected to be a familiar look to the XI on Sunday.

Wout Weghorst has been linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur this summer, but the Dutchman remains at the club for the moment and should lead the line with support from Joao Victor and Josip Brekalo.

Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Muller; Schmid, Lienhart, Heintz, Gunter; Santamaria; Sallai, Jeong, Grifo; Petersen, Holer

Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Casteels; Steffen, Lacroix, Brooks, Roussillon; Schlager, Arnold, Mehmedi, Victor, Weghorst, Brekalo


SM words green background

We say: Freiburg 1-1 Wolfsburg

Both managers would likely accept a draw if it were offered ahead of kickoff, and we are struggling to separate the two teams here. There is not an awful lot between them in terms of quality, while they played out a 2-2 draw in their last meeting in the Bundesliga in the middle of June.


Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:data

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Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Wolfsburg win with a probability of 45.82%. A win for Freiburg had a probability of 28.99% and a draw had a probability of 25.2%.

The most likely scoreline for a Wolfsburg win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.15%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.24%) and 0-2 (7.85%). The likeliest Freiburg win was 1-0 (7.73%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.95%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 12% likelihood.


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Bayer Leverkusen's Kerem Demirbay in action with Wolfsburg's Wout Weghorst in the Bundesliga in May 2020
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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
CBayer LeverkusenB. Leverkusen31256077225581
2Bayern MunichBayern31223689385169
3Stuttgart31204770383264
4RB Leipzig31195773353862
5Borussia DortmundDortmund31169659392057
6Eintracht FrankfurtFrankfurt31111284742545
7Freiburg31117134355-1240
8Augsburg31109124852-439
9Hoffenheim31116145563-839
10Werder Bremen31107144150-937
11Heidenheim30810124352-934
12Wolfsburg3197153751-1434
13Borussia MonchengladbachBorussia M'bach30710135360-731
14VfL BochumVfL Bochum31612133762-2530
15Union BerlinUnion Berlin3085172650-2429
16Mainz 05Mainz30512133148-1727
17FC Koln30410162353-3022
18SV Darmstadt 98Darmstadt3038193072-4217


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