Bundesliga Friday Preview: Frankfurt Host Freiburg

The Bundesliga kicks off this weekend with a big mid-table tie featuring Frankfurt and Freiburg. Frankfurt picked up an unlikely three points last weekend with a 4-0 away win at Borussia Monchengladbach, and will certainly be looking to continue that rich vein of form. Freiburg, on the other hand, have also been on good form and have picked up six points from their first three matches, with an away win at Nurnberg and a home win at Stuttgart being their two victories. They have been impressive, and despite Frankfurt’s 4-0 win to Gladbach, I think Freiburg will impress once more and come away with a result here.

Frankfurt head coach Michael Skibbe is likely to pack the midfield and attack down the flanks, with Theofanis Gekas being the focal point of the attack. Here’s a probable lineup:

Nikolov – Jung, Franz, Russ, Tzavellas – Schwegler, Meier – Ochs, Altintop, Kohler – Gekas

Frankfurt will have to do without Zlatan Bajramovic, Ioannis Amanatidis, Aleksandar Vasoski and of course Sebastian Rode for this match. Losing Bajramovic in particular could make this match a very difficult one for Skibbe’s men.

Freiburg will field a very competitive lineup, featuring top scorer Papiss Demba Cisse in attack, who could really make the difference in this match. Here’s a probable lineup:

Baumann – Mujdza, Barth, Butscher, Bastians – Putsilo, Makiadi, Schuster – Rosenthal, Abdessadki – Cisse

I’m going to predict a 2-1 win for Freiburg here. I just can’t see Frankfurt picking up where they left off against Gladbach, but I do see Freiburg continuing to grind results out.