Bayer Leverkusen vs. Freiburg: Bundesliga Previews, and Predictions

Defending champions Bayer Leverkusen will face Freiburg at BayArena in an attempt to extend their impressive form, which has rekindled their pursuit of the Bundesliga championship.

With 29 points, Die Schwarzroten are in second place, four points behind Bayern Munich. On December 14, they defeated Augsburg 2-0. The visitors, meanwhile, are in fifth place with 24 points, after beating Wolfsburg 3-2 on December 13.

Previous Matches and Head to head

Although neither side had many good scoring opportunities in their encounter against Augsburg, Leverkusen nevertheless managed to pull off a 1-0 win thanks to goals from Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz in the first half.

"I am very pleased with the game and especially with the way we played," Xabi Alonso told reporters, expressing his satisfaction with his team's composed performance. We remained composed and under control, which is no small feat. We want to play that manner while we're on the road.

Despite losing six of their first ten league games, Alonso's squad has won four in a row and seven in a row in all competitions.

It is worth mentioning that the champions have maintained the same number of clean sheets in their last six games (6) as they did in their previous thirteen games (13).

With just eight goals in their last five games, Leverkusen's attacking prowess has been severely lacking compared to their ten goals in their previous two games.

The home team has won eight games and drawn twice at BayArena since their August 31 loss to RB Leipzig.

By the 61st minute, Freiburg had gained a commanding 3-0 lead against Wolfsburg. However, two goals in the 75th and 83rd minutes from the Wolves made for an unneededly tense finish to the encounter.

After a disappointing defensive performance, manager Julian Schuster was happy with the team's victory against a formidable Wolfsburg squad. To me, it is paramount. We should have scored the fourth goal sooner and made it too thrilling, but we won't be moaning today.

The last four games played by Schuster's squad have seen eight goals scored and six goals allowed.

Freiburg has been all over the place as of late, losing twice, winning twice, and drawing once in their previous five matches. However, they are still riding high after a six-game winning streak in the Bundesliga.

In their previous four league away games, the visitors have gone down twice and drawn once. In their last nine top-flight road matches, they have won just twice and lost four times.

Bayer Leverkusen x Freiburg Team News

Thankfully, Leverkusen's lengthy injury list is now clear; nevertheless, forwards Victor Boniface is questionable, while Amine Adli and Jonas Hofmann will not be able to play.

Wirtz and Nathan Tella will likely start as a back-up for striker Patrik Schick, similar to their position in the previous match.

Starting with a back three consisting of Edmond Tapsoba, Jonathan Tah, and Piero Hincapie, Granit Xhaka and Robert Andrich might form a double pivot.

Midfielders Maximilian Eggestein and Patrick Osterhage will likely start together for Freiburg without Daniel-Kofi Kyereh until February.

Florian Muller will miss the rest of the season with a concussion, although regular starter Noah Atubolu would have started in goal otherwise, having started 12 of his team's 14 league games.

On the other side, Christian Gunter and Lukas Kubler would likely start at fullback, while Philipp Lienhart and Matthias Ginter would likely start in the middle of the defense.

Our Predictions

Bayer Leverkusen to win @ 1.40 on Sky247.ng

Bayer Leverkusen should be regarded favorites due to their improved resilience in recent weeks and the availability of most of their team.

It would be surprising if Alonso's squad had an easy time of it on Saturday against Freiburg, given the hosts' dismal road form and the hosts' incredible home record.

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