Preview: Mainz 05 vs. Freiburg - prediction, team news, lineups

Mainz 05 will be aiming to extend their unbeaten run to five matches when they host Freiburg in the Bundesliga on Sunday.

Freiburg, meanwhile, have failed to win any of their last four league games.

Match preview

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Indeed, since collecting only two points from their opening eight matches, Mainz's form has improved in recent weeks with three draws and a maiden victory of the season.

Despite claiming a solid point away to Hoffenheim last time out, Die Nullfunfer remain within the relegation places ahead of this weekend's domestic action, while they are yet to find a permanent successor for Bo Svensson since sacking the Dane last month.

Former Huddersfield Town manager Jan Siewert is currently interim boss, and he has certainly laid down a marker in terms of putting himself in the frame for the permanent role. Marco Richter had put his side in front at Rhein-Neckar Arena, before Robert Skov's strike after the break claimed a 1-1 draw for Hoffenheim.

With FC Koln facing SV Darmstadt 98 and Union Berlin travelling to Bayern Munich this weekend, a second victory of the season would almost certainly see Mainz move out of the relegation places, so Siewert will be hoping his players can build on their decent start under his management by dispatching Freiburg on Sunday.

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Having finished inside the top six positions in each of the last two seasons, Freiburg's domestic form has not been so impressive this time around, with 15 points from 12 games seeing them sit just inside the top half of the table.

Christian Streich's side were held at home for the second successive league game when hosting Darmstadt last weekend, with Lucas Holer's effort cancelling out Mathias Honsak's early opener. However, they bounced back in some style by thrashing Olympiacos 5-0 on Thursday to seal their progression to the Europa League knockout stages for the second successive season.

Breisgau-Brasilianer will need to defeat West Ham United at the London Stadium later this month if they are to claim top spot in Group A, otherwise they will finish second and be in the draw for the playoff stage. That could see them facing one of the eight sides set to drop down from the Champions League after the turn of the year.

In the meantime, Streich will be determined to see his side's league form improve as they look to qualify for Europe once more. Freiburg's last three away trips have been to Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig, with Streich's side falling to defeat on all three occasions, so they will be glad to be facing a side beneath them in the table this weekend.

Team News

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Mainz have a host of injury problems at the moment, with Joshua Guilavogui, Andreas Hanche-Olsen, Maxim Leitsch, Karim Onisiwo, Nelson Weiper and Robin Zentner all ruled out of Sunday's meeting with Freiburg.

Lasse Finn Reiss will almost certainly replace Zentner in the hosts' goal, while Sepp van den Berg and Dominik Kohr could return to the starting XI after missing out on the trip to Hoffenheim through suspension. Brajan Gruda and Jonathan Burkardt, who recently returned from his own long-term injury, also offer intriguing options to potentially bolster Mainz's attack.

Freiburg, meanwhile, will travel without Christian Gunter, Lukas Kubler, Daniel Kofi-Kyereh and Maximilian Philipp due to injury, while Yannik Keitel and Kenneth Schmidt are both major doubts and unlikely to feature.

Michael Gregoritsch fell out of favour in recent months but he started against Darmstadt last time out in the league before bagging a hat-trick against Olympiacos, so it would be surprising if the Austrian did not lead the visitors' line once again.

Mainz 05 possible starting lineup:

Riess; Widmer, Van Den Berg, Fernandes, Caci; Barreiro, Kohr; Gruda, Lee, Richter; Ajorque

Freiburg possible starting lineup:

Atubolu; Ginter, Lienhart, Gulde; Doan, Eggestein, Hofler, Weisshaupt; Holer, Grifo; Gregoritsch

We say: Mainz 05 1-1 Freiburg

Although Mainz appear to have overcome their early season slump, they are still struggling to put wins on the board, and we can envisage that continuing on Sunday.

Freiburg probably have a little more quality than the hosts but they are struggling to juggle two competitions at present, so they may be content to claim a point.

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