Freiburg vs FC Koln prediction: GERMANY: Bundesliga betting tips on match 2023-12-16 14:30.
A 2-0 UEFA Europa League defeat at West Ham on Thursday ended a four match unbeaten run across all competitions for Freiburg (W3, D1,) and also added two further games to their 2024 schedule as their second place in Group A means they will now have to negotiate the knockout round play-offs in February. Domestically however, it has been another strong campaign for the Breisgau Brazilians, who are currently in eighth place and only four points shy of fifth place, the spot they finished in last season.
If Christian Streich’s team are to challenge for the European places once more, they will need to improve their goalscoring record in the Bundesliga considering they have found the net only 17 times ahead of the round, a figure which is bettered by all the other teams occupying the top 13 positions. At least the majority of those have come at home (11/17), where fans have witnessed them lose only once this season in league action (to Dortmund).
With the lowest scorers in the division heading to town and only two goals shared in total across Cologne’s last three games this season, this could be another light game on the goal front. Steffen Baumgart’s side come into this round 11 points behind Freiburg in 16th, but have lost only two of their last seven in the Bundesliga (W2, D3) – a vast improvement on their six defeats from their opening seven games!
The Billy Goats’ fans face an arduous 864 km round trip for this match but will be buoyed by the side taking four points across their last two games. They kept a clean sheet too in both of those matches, albeit they came against the two teams below them in the table (Darmstadt and Mainz), and as they have beaten Freiburg away just once this century (D5, L11), fans may not travel with much confidence!
Players to watch: Michael Gregoritsch failed to score against West Ham but the Freiburg forward had netted five times from the previous three games, opening the scoring in each. Cologne have scored only two goals in their last four matches with Davie Selke getting both of them.
Hot stat: Freiburg have not conceded during the second half in five of their six league home games.