Freiburg vs Hoffenheim prediction: GERMANY: Bundesliga betting tips on match 2024-01-19 14:30.
Two teams with genuine aspirations of finishing in the Bundesliga European places this season go head-to-head on Saturday as seventh placed Freiburg host a Hoffenheim side one point and one place behind them. Christian Streich’s team finished in fifth spot last season, only the third time in their history that they’ve achieved a top-five finish, and matching that is certainly not out of the question as they sit just five points behind Dortmund in fifth.
In order to close the gap on the teams above them, the Bresigau Brazilians will need to maintain their strong home form which has seen them lose only once at the Europa-Park Stadion in the Bundesliga all season (W4, D3, L1). However, they’ll also need to improve on their showing from last weekend which saw them held to a 0-0 draw at home by relegation-threatened Union Berlin.
With the third strongest away record in the division (W5, D1, L3), you’d expect that Hoffenheim would travel south full of confidence, but those four winless games have come from their last four matches on the road including defeats to Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Borussia Mönchengladbach across their last three travelling league games!
The visitors’ recent clashes with Freiburg have proved to be equally as unfruitful for Hoffenheim, who have not won any of the last five H2Hs (D1, L4) and have beaten Freiburg just once since mid-2019 (D2, L7). But if Pellegrino Matarazzo’s side can turn both records around in this latest clash and return home with all three points, they will leapfrog their opponents in the standings.
Players to watch: Freiburg’s Vincenzo Grifo has contributed to eight goals in the Bundesliga this season (G3, A5) with all three goals coming at the Europa-Park Stadion. Togolese forward Ihlas Bebou was surprisingly benched for Hoffenheim’s trip to Munich last Friday, but with three goals across his previous three games, he may be in line for an instant return to the starting XI for this match.
Hot stat: Hoffenheim have conceded at least one second-half goal in all but one of their Bundesliga away matches this season.