Freiburg prepare to welcome Hertha Berlin to the Schwarzwald-Stadion on Tuesday in their penultimate home game of the season.
The two sides are only separated by four points in the table, with Freiburg sitting eighth, while Hertha lie in 11th as things stand.
Match preview
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Freiburg were unable to build upon their impressive win over Champions League hopefuls Borussia Monchengladbach as they drew 2-2 with Wolfsburg on Saturday.
Christian Streich's side quickly fell behind to a Wout Weghorst double before strikes from Lucas Holer and Roland Sallai salvaged a point for the Europa League hopefuls at the Volkswagen Arena.
As things stand, Freiburg remain four points off the pace for a spot in Europe, and Streich's side have now closed the gap on seventh-placed Hoffenheim to just one point following their defeat to RB Leipzig.
The onus is certainly on Freiburg to deliver in these final few games if they are to mount a serious charge for European football, especially with a fixture at champions-elect Bayern Munich to contend with next weekend.
Depending on what happens in Wolfsburg's game against Monchengladbach earlier in the day, Freiburg could very well sit just one point behind the former with a victory in midweek.
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Meanwhile, Hertha's strong form since the restart has since tapered off following two consecutive losses to Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt.
Frankfurt ran riot against Bruno Labbadia's side at the weekend following Dedryck Boyata's red card, and Hertha's hopes of a spot in the Europa League have been quickly dashed.
Indeed, Hertha are very much in mid-table obscurity on 38 points at this late stage of the season, meaning there is little pressure on Labbadia's side as they look ahead to the 2020-21 campaign.
Die Alte Dame will be hopeful of picking up a good result when they travel to Freiburg, though, as they have only lost once in their last eight away matches, and Labbadia's men enjoyed a 1-0 victory over their opponents on home soil in December.
Hertha dropped down to 11th on Sunday following Schalke's hard-fought draw with Bayer Leverkusen but they can leapfrog Schalke and Frankfurt into ninth with a win at the Schwarzwald-Stadion in midweek.
Freiburg Bundesliga form: DLDLWD
Hertha Berlin Bundesliga form: WWDWLL
Team News
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Freiburg have no fresh injury concerns heading into the midweek clash with Hertha.
Defender Manuel Gulde remains out while Yoric Ravet is also a doubt for Streich's side, and the Freiburg manager may decide to switch up his options in attack.
Top scorer Nils Petersen started on the bench against Wolfsburg and is pushing for a start here, while Janik Haberer is also in contention.
Niklas Stark is likely to deputise in the heart of defence for Hertha as Boyata watches from the sidelines following his sending off at the weekend.
Per Ciljan Skjelbred was forced off early in the defeat to Frankfurt and it remains to be seen whether the Norwegian will recover in time for Tuesday.
Labbadia already has several players he is unable to call upon, including Salomon Kalou, Maximilian Mittelstadt and Marius Wolf, but Matheus Cunha is fit again and could play a part here.
Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Schwolow; Schmid, Heintz, Lienhart, Gunter; Koch, Hofler, Grifo, Sallai; Holer, Petersen
Hertha Berlin possible starting lineup:
Jarstein; Pekarik, Stark, Torunarigha, Plattenhardt; Grujic, Maier; Lukebakio, Darida, Esswein; Ibisevic
We say: Freiburg 2-1 Hertha Berlin
At this point, Freiburg are very much the rank outsiders for the sixth and final European spot, but the race is still very much on. Hertha have a depleted squad and will not be brimming with confidence after their last two results, so we are going for a narrow home win.
Ben Knapton
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 Freiburg win with a probability of 41.28%. A win for Hertha Berlin had a probability of 33.28% and a draw had a probability of 25.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Freiburg win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.36%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.8%) and 2-0 (6.84%). The likeliest Hertha Berlin win was 0-1 (8.24%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.04%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Freiburg would win this match.
