Preview: Augsburg vs. Freiburg

Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Bundesliga clash between Augsburg and Freiburg, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Buoyed from Thursday’s comeback win over Lens in the Europa Conference League, Freiburg will make the trip to the WWK Arena for Sunday’s Bundesliga clash with Augsburg.

The hosts begin matchday 23 in 14th place in the league table, while Christian Streich’s side will enter the weekend in ninth position.

Match preview
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Despite sitting seven points clear of the bottom three, Augsburg will still be desperate to return to winning ways after taking just two points from their last four matches.

The Fuggerstadter began that run of underwhelming form with a narrow defeat to Bayern Munich, before they played out back-to-back draws against Bochum and RB Leipzig.

Augsburg boss Jess Thorup would have been particularly disappointed to fall to a 1-0 loss in last weekend’s away meeting with a Mainz side that had gone 11 league games without a victory.

Following their unsuccessful trip to Mainz, the Fuggerstadter will now return to the MEWA Arena, where they will attempt to claim their first home victory since early December, having taken just two points from their last four home outings.

However, their hopes of picking up maximum points will be tempered by the fact they have failed to win any of their previous eight meetings with Freiburg, leaving them without a head-to-head victory since running out 4-1 winners in September 2018.

Freiburg will head into Sunday’s fixture in a celebratory mood after they produced a stunning second-half comeback to beat Lens 3-2 in the second leg of their Europa Conference League playoff round tie.

All hope seemed to be lost when David Pereira da Costa and Elye Wahi grabbed a goal apiece to give Lens a 2-0 lead at the half-time interval, but Roland Sallai ultimately gave Freiburg a foothold with a 67th-minute strike, before netting a stoppage-time equaliser to send the game to an additional 30 minutes.

With momentum in Freiburg’s favour, Michael Gregoritsch scored in the first half of extra time to complete the remarkable turnaround and set up a last-16 clash with West Ham United – a side they have already faced this season in the group stage.

Streich will hope his side’s European success can have a positive effect on their domestic form, with the Breisgau-Brasilianer winless in four league matches since beating Hoffenheim on January 20.

Having conceded three goals in each of those four Bundesliga games, Freiburg will be looking to produce an improved defensive display in Sunday’s contest.

The visitors will be able to draw inspiration from the fact they have won each of their previous six meetings with Augsburg, including a 2-0 victory in October’s reverse fixture.

Augsburg Bundesliga form:

Freiburg Bundesliga form:

Freiburg form (all competitions):

Team News
© Reuters

Augsburg will go into Sunday’s fixture without the services of Raphael Framberger, Iago, Patric Pfeiffer, Reece Oxford and Dion Drena Beljo.

Thorup has confirmed that defender Maximilian Bauer will replace Jeffrey Gouweleeuw, who is set to serve a one-match suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards.

Full-back Mads Pedersen will begin a three-match ban after receiving a straight red card in his substitute appearance against Mainz.

As for the visitors, they are unable to call upon Philipp Lienhart, Kenneth Schmidt, Yannik Keitel, Max Rosenfelder and Daniel-Kofi Kyereh due to injury.

Gregoritsch could be rewarded with a starting opportunity after coming off the bench to score the winning goal against Lens in midweek.

Streich may decide to make a couple more changes to freshen up his side, with Matthias Ginter and Vincenzo Grifo in contention to start Sunday’s league fixture.

Augsburg possible starting lineup:
Dahmen; Mbabu, Bauer, Udokhai, Iago; Jensen, Jakic, Rexhbecaj, Vargas; Demirovic, Tietz

Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Atubolu; Kubler, Ginter, Gulde, Makengo; Doan, Eggestein, Hofler, Grifo; Sallai, Gregoritsch

We say: Augsburg 1-2 Freiburg
Freiburg will be full of confidence after Thursday’s European outing, and we think they follow that result with a narrow win over an Augsburg side that has lost two of their previous three home league matches.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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