Freiburg will welcome Borussia Dortmund to Schwarzwald-Stadion on Saturday for their first home Bundesliga fixture of the season, as they look to continue their impressive form as of late.
BVB started their Bundesliga season perfectly with a dominant 5-2 victory against Eintracht Frankfurt, but the team will need to bounce back from their defeat in the DFL-Supercup final.
Match preview
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The hosts managed to earn a point in their opening game of the season after travelling to Arminia Bielefeld in what was a goalless draw, which Christian Streich will have taken confidence from.
Freiburg will now welcome one of the favourites to win the league in BVB but shall look to replicate their strong home record from last season, as they only lost four times in their own ground.
That impressive form at Schwarzwald-Stadion actually saw Streich's men defeat Dortmund in this fixture last season, picking up a 2-1 victory the previous time the two teams collided.
With an undefeated pre-season in the rearview mirror, progress in the DFB-Pokal and a point on the board already, there is clearly plenty of confidence running through the Freiburg squad at the moment.
Dortmund have been dominant so far this season, with a 3-0 victory in the DFB-Pokal first round, while they then put five past Eintracht Frankfurt to kickstart their league campaign.
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Erling Braut Haaland's future might still be up in the air, with plenty of speculation over transfers, but he is not allowing it to have an impact on his performances for BVB.
Haaland has continued to be one of the most deadly strikers in the game, scoring three goals in the DFB-Pokal and then finding the back of the net twice in the league while picking up a trio of assists in the process.
Despite the brilliant performances that the team has put together so far, Marco Rose's men were not able to secure the DFL-Supercup on Tuesday, as Bayern Munich walked away with the trophy.
Dortmund were defeated 3-1 in the final despite a goal from Marco Reus, and the talented outfit will be looking for an immediate response to continue their title challenge this season.
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Team News
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Streich will have been pleased by what he saw in the opening game of the season and while the squad were unable to score, defensively they proved their capabilities.
Saturday will be a major test for the team against one of the best strikers in the league and there will likely not be any changes to a team that kept a clean sheet previously.
One player that Freiburg will no longer have available is Baptiste Santamaria, who made the move to French outfit Rennes during the week, having signed a four-year deal.
Dortmund will continue to adjust to life without Jadon Sancho in this fixture and there are still plenty of other players unavailable, with Thomas Meunier and Julian Brandt having not returned due to positive coronavirus tests.
Axel Witsel has filled in defensively this season due to Raphael Guerreiro being out of action with a calf problem and that could continue once again this Saturday.
Mats Hummels has also missed the first few games with a tendon injury, but he has been training recently and could be in contention to be involved depending on his match fitness.
Two more experienced names that are injury doubts for this fixture are Emre Can, who has missed the first two games of the season, and Thorgan Hazard, who currently has an ankle problem.
Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Flekken; Gulde, Lienhart, Schlotterbeck; Schmid, Keitel, Hofler, Gunter; Grifo, Jeong; Holer
Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Kobel; Passlack, Witsel, Akanji, Schulz; Reyna, Dahoud, Bellingham; Reus, Moukoko, Haaland
We say: Freiburg 0-3 Borussia Dortmund
Although Dortmund are missing several key players due to injuries, the squad is still one of the strongest in the league with a plethora of attacking talents that should be more than capable of earning a victory here.
Haaland will no doubt look to continue being a threat, while the possibility of some returning players could add even more quality that will be too much for Freiburg to handle.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Borussia Dortmund win with a probability of 67.61%. A draw had a probability of 17.7% and a win for Freiburg had a probability of 14.67%.
The most likely scoreline for a Borussia Dortmund win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.57%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (9.16%) and 1-3 (7.72%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.92%), while for a Freiburg win it was 2-1 (4.14%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 4.1% likelihood.
