Freiburg v Leverkusen preview
Will Patrick Schick continue his hot streak in Freiburg?
Freiburg host Leverkusen on Sunday afternoon, with a vital 3 points up for grabs. A win for the home side will edge them ahead of their rivals, and into the Champions league places.
Freiburg's recent form is a little indifferent, after a strong beginning to the season. They have won only 1 of their last 5 games, the incredible 6-0 demolition of Gladbach. Recent home defeats to Hoffenheim and Frankfurt have been disappointing, but they did battle to a valuable point away at Union Berlin in midweek. It's been a momentous season for the Freiburg faithful. The Europa-Park stadion became their new home, marked with a 1-1 draw with RB Leipzig in October.
They don't have a lethal marksman in their ranks, but they share goals evenly throughout their side. Philipp Lienhart and Lucas Holer topscore with 4 goals, with the mercurial Vincenzo Grifo netting 3 times. Holer has struck 3 times in his last 4 games against Leverkusen. Coach Christian Streich will be hoping for more of the same on Sunday.
Goals are a high probability whenever Leverkusen are involved. The side have some amazing attacking talent, with Czech star striker Patrick Schick in scintillating form. He has struck a very impressive 16 goals in 13 games in the Bundesliga, just 3 behind Robert Lewandowski. But there are other dangers too. German teenage wonderkid Florian Wirtz has taken the league by storm and continues to make giant strides forward. They have averaged an incredible 2.44 goals per league game this season. They will be missing French attacker Moussa Diaby for this fixture, after his sending off during the week against Hoffenheim.
Leverkusen will feel that they should be closer to the leading duo at the top. They have dropped many points from leading positions, and this must greatly concern coach Gerardo Seoane. A 2 goal lead was let slip in midweek, and this followed a similar pattern to the 5-2 capitulation in Frankfurt. Defensively they are fragile. Correcting this will surely be a priority during the winter break.