Freiburg will be aiming to arrest their alarming slump in the Bundesliga when they welcome Borussia Monchengladbach to the Schwarzwald-Stadion on Saturday afternoon.
This weekend's hosts played out a 1-1 draw away at Augsburg last time out, whereas Monchengladbach overcame Schalke 4-1 before losing to Inter Milan in the Champions League.
Match preview
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Freiburg's worrying winless run in the German top flight is showing no signs of ending any time soon, with Christian Streich witnessing his side fail to come out on top for the eighth game in a row last Saturday.
Breisgau-Brasilianer opted for a five-man defence against Augsburg - a move which seemed destined to bear fruit after Vincenzo Grifo put Freiburg 1-0 up in the 64th minute - but Ruben Vargas equalised with 10 minutes remaining to leave Freiburg winless since September.
Streich's men have slumped to 14th in the table amid their dismal spell of form, but practically every side in the bottom half of the table is enduring a similarly poor run to Freiburg at the moment, and Breisgau-Brasilianer could leapfrog Hertha Berlin and Hoffenheim into 12th should they both lose and Freiburg prevail against Monchengladbach.
However, Freiburg are still yet to taste victory on their own turf this season and have lost their last two home matches to Bayer Leverkusen and Mainz 05, but Streich's side are arguably facing Monchengladbach at an ideal time given the visitors' recent European disappointment.
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Borussia Monchengladbach's Champions League destiny is still in their own hands, but Marco Rose's men missed the opportunity to confirm qualification for the last 16 as Inter Milan ran out 3-2 winners in a pulsating game on Tuesday evening.
Romelu Lukaku and Alassane Plea both bagged braces on the night, but it was the former's team who came out on top after Matteo Darmian initially broke the deadlock in the first half, with Monchengladbach now one point clear at the top of the table.
Group B is poised to go right down to the wire, and Monchengladbach must navigate the improbable task of taking three points from their visit to Real Madrid next week, and Rose's men are sure to have next week's trip to the Spanish capital playing on their minds before Saturday's showdown with Freiburg.
Monchengladbach have performed reasonably well in the league while having to juggle European commitments as well, and Rose's men ensured that Schalke's winless run continued last Saturday as they overcame the Bundesliga's basement side with ease by four goals to one.
However, the visitors' recent record away to Freiburg makes for bleak reading for the Fohlen faithful; Monchengladbach have not triumphed on Freiburg's turf since the 2007-08 2.Bundesliga campaign, with Breisgau-Brasilianer winning 10 of their last 11 clashes with their weekend opponents on familiar territory.
Freiburg Bundesliga form: DDLLLD
Borussia Monchengladbach Bundesliga form: DWWLDW
Borussia Monchengladbach form (all competitions): WLDWWL
Team News
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Freiburg defender Manuel Gulde had to be forced off late on in the draw with Augsburg, but the 29-year-old's problem is not thought to be serious and he has been training as normal ahead of this showdown.
However, the same cannot be said for Roland Sallai, who missed out entirely last weekend and remains a doubt as he attempts to shake off a calf injury.
Kwon Chang-hoon continues to recover from coronavirus and is not expected to play a part this weekend, while Lukas Kubler also remains in the treatment room, but Nils Petersen could return to the starting lineup over Ermedin Demirovic.
Monchengladbach defender Tony Jantschke lasted just 45 minutes against Inter and is likely to miss this one out, joining fellow centre-back Nico Elvedi on the sidelines.
Ramy Bensebaini contracted COVID-19 a couple of weeks back and should be close to a comeback, but the 25-year-old is still doubtful for this one nonetheless.
Rose could be tempted to make a couple of alterations with next week's trip to Real Madrid in mind, meaning that the likes of Breel Embolo, Denis Zakaria and Michael Lang could all start at Freiburg.
Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Muller; Schmid, Lienhart, Heintz, Gulde, Gunter; Holer, Hofler, Santamaria, Grifo; Petersen
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Lainer, Lang, Ginter, Wendt; Kramer, Zakaria; Lazaro, Embolo, Thuram; Plea
We say: Freiburg 0-1 Borussia Monchengladbach
Freiburg away is undoubtedly the fixture that the Monchengladbach faithful will be dreading given their side's record at the Schwarzwald-Stadion, but the visitors can be forgiven for feeling more confident this time around amid Freiburg's woeful spell of form. Rose's men can ill afford to lose any more players before facing off against Los Blancos, and this could be a closer affair than the form book would have fans suggest, but Monchengladbach should do enough to come out on top.
