Freiburg and Schalke 04 will round off their 2019-20 Bundesliga campaigns with a clash at Schwarzwald-Stadion on Saturday afternoon.
Neither side has much to play for heading into this weekend's clash, with Freiburg not able to catch seventh-placed Hoffenheim, while Schalke sit down in 11th spot in the table.
Match preview
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Freiburg were in the mix for a top-seven finish when they recorded a 2-1 win over Hertha Berlin on June 16, but last weekend's 3-1 defeat at Bayern Munich proved to be extremely damaging.
Indeed, the loss, coupled with results elsewhere, left Christian Streich's side in eighth spot in the table, four points behind seventh-placed Hoffenheim with just one game left.
Freiburg will finish eighth providing that they better Eintracht Frankfurt's result against basement side Paderborn, which would be their highest position since the 2016-17 campaign.
All in all, it has been a successful season for Breisgau-Brasilianer, and they will be determined to post their 13th Bundesliga victory of the campaign before signing off for a few months.
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Schalke, meanwhile, have been in rotten form since resuming their season in the middle of May. Indeed, seven defeats from nine matches has seen them slide into the bottom half of the table.
David Wagner's side, who lost 4-1 at home to Wolfsburg last weekend, have not actually been victorious in the Bundesliga since January 17, which is simply too long for a club of their ilk.
Schalke are currently 11th in the table, two points behind 10th-placed Hertha Berlin, meaning that a top-half finish is still on the cards, largely due to their form in the first half of the campaign.
The Royal Blues have only finished outside of the top 10 in the Bundesliga in one of the last eight seasons, while they claimed second in 2017-18, which shows how far they have fallen.
Freiburg Bundesliga form: DLWDWL
Schalke Bundesliga form: LLDDLL
Team News
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Freiburg will be without the services of Manuel Gulde, Janik Haberer and Lino Tempelmann for their final match of the season, while Robin Koch and Lukas Kubler are both doubtful.
Nils Petersen could get the nod to start alongside Lucas Holer in the final third of the field, while there could be a spot in an attacking area for Kwon Chang-hoon.
As for Schalke, a lengthy injury list includes Salif Sane, Matija Nastasic, Guido Burgstaller, Jean-Clair Todibo, Suat Serdar, Amine Harit and Omar Mascarell, while Jonjoe Kenny is suspended.
The absence of on-loan Everton defender Kenny could see Timo Becker come into the side at right-back, while Rabbi Matondo should keep his spot after scoring against Wolfsburg.
Youngsters Can Bozdogan and Ahmed Kutucu have both been involved for the club in recent weeks and that is again expected to be the case this weekend with the former available again after a suspension.
Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Flekken; Schmid, Lienhart, Heintz, Gunter; Kwon, Abrashi, Hofler, Grifo; Petersen, Holer
Schalke possible starting lineup:
Nubel; Becker, Kabak, Oczipka, Miranda; Caligiuri, McKennie, Schopf, Bozdogan; Kutucu, Matondo
We say: Freiburg 2-0 Schalke
Both teams will be desperate to end their seasons with a win, but we are finding it difficult to look past the hosts, backing them to record a 2-0 victory. Schalke have struggled badly since returning to action in May, but Freiburg had won two out of three before losing to Bayern last weekend.
Matt Law
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 39.79%. A win for Schalke 04 had a probability of 34.17% and a draw had a probability of 26%.
The most likely scoreline for a Freiburg win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.79%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.58%) and 2-0 (6.78%). The likeliest Schalke 04 win was 0-1 (8.93%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.37%). The actual scoreline of 4-0 was predicted with a 1.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Freiburg would win this match.
