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SC Freiburg vs. VfL Bochum
The 4th matchday of the Bundesliga will be opened on Friday by two teams that surprised positively last season. However, while SC Freiburg are on the verge of another good season, the visitors from Bochum are now facing a difficult year after finishing 13th in the pre-season. Kick-off in the direct duel is at 20:30.
Even before the start of the new Bundesliga season, many experts rated VfL as the number one relegation candidate. So far, the Bochum team has not been able to exceed these expectations. With zero points and a goal difference of minus nine, they are bottom of the table.
At the other end of the table, Freiburg are in the thick of the action and, as in the previous season, seem to be in contention for a place in the European Cup. The Breisgau side are currently in fifth place and, after two wins from their first three games, are clear favourites going into their home match against Bochum. Find out what our predictions are for this match in our Freiburg vs Bochum betting tips.
Freiburg – Bochum info
– Date & Time: 26.08.2022, 20:30 Uhr
– Venue: Freiburg, Europa-Park Stadion
– Competition: Bundesliga, Matchday 4
– TV broadcast: DAZN
Freiburg Form & Balance Check
In the style of a top team, SC Freiburg won the Swabian-Badish derby against VfB Stuttgart 1-0 last weekend. With their first offensive action worth mentioning, the Breisgauer took the lead through Vincenzo Grifo (11′). Subsequently, Stuttgart were the better team, but Freiburg defended strongly until the final whistle, unlike against Dortmund (1:3), and managed to hold on to their lead.
Last home win against Bochum
But even Freiburg’s good start to the season does not hide their sobering record in recent home games. A fortnight ago on Friday, they lost 3-1 to Dortmund despite a good performance. This means that coach Christian Streich’s team has been waiting for a win at home for the past three games. At the end of last season, they remained winless against Borussia Mönchengladbach (3:3) and Union Berlin (1:4) at the Europapark Stadium. The last opponent Freiburg defeated in their own stadium was VfL Bochum (3:0).
Freiburg facts & analysis
– Last win with 1:0 against VfB Stuttgart
– 13 consecutive matches scored in a row over the course of the season
– Season-long run of three consecutive home games not won (1U & 2N)
Bochum Form & Balance Check
After defeats against Mainz (1:2) and Hoffenheim (2:3), Bochum also lost their third league match last weekend. Against FC Bayern München, they went down 0:7 in their own stadium. In the previous season, they had spectacularly beaten the record champions here 4:2.
It is the first time in 16 years that VfL have started a Bundesliga season with three defeats. In 2006/07, however, Bochum were able to turn things around and finish the season in a good eighth place.
The approaches are right
The performances shown so far by the former “un-relegated” team, however, also give hope of staying in the league this season. Against the in-form Mainz, they were on an equal footing, but lost narrowly 1:2. In Sinsheim (2:3), they took an early 2:0 lead, but then lost a lot of ground in the course of the game and couldn’t get it over time. And also in the match against the overpowering FC Bayern, the last team in the table had its chances. Unlike the record champions, however, they failed to make the most of them and were already 4-0 down at the break.
Bochum facts & analysis
– Last lost with 0:7 against FC Bayern München
– Bottom of the table with 0 points and 3:12 goals
– Conceded at least 2 goals in 7 of the last 8 league matches
Predicted line-up – last updated on 24 August 2022
SC Freiburg went into their first three league games with the identical starting line-up. Against Bochum, there will probably be the first change of necessity. Maximilian Eggestein broke his hand in the game against Stuttgart. Since the central midfielder nevertheless played the full game, his use on Friday cannot be completely ruled out. Yannik Keitel would be available as an alternative.
Bochum coach Thomas Reis will not attach too much importance to the result of the Bayern game. The defeat was a foregone conclusion, and despite the obviousness of the result, VfL showed a few good signs at the start of the game. Nevertheless, we expect two small changes in the starting eleven against Freiburg. The recovered Gerrit Holtmann, who was substituted against Munich, will probably start again on Friday. We also expect Konstantinos Stafylidis to replace Saidy Janko at left-back, who has been overworked lately.
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There was no getting past Flekki on Saturday 💪 pic.twitter.com/YyGNLj9HU9
– SC Freiburg (@scfreiburg) August 23, 2022
SC Freiburg – VfL Bochum Direct Comparison & Statistics
The overall balance between these two clubs is completely even. Both won nine encounters each. Four encounters did not find a winner. However, the last two duels were won by Freiburg. In the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup, they won 2-1 in extra time at the beginning of March. A month later, they defeated VfL 3-0 in the league, with Rolland Sallai the match-winner in both games with a total of three goals.
– SC Freiburg won the last two games against Bochum
– Bochum won their home match in the first leg of the last season with 2:1 against SC
– Bochum last won at Freiburg in 2016
– Freiburg scored in each of the 3 duels last season
