SC Freiburg vs Hannover 96 Predictions

It’s been a strange few weeks for Freiburg. Christian Streich’s men beat an in-form RB Leipzig at home (3-0) – a result which ended their four-game winless run (D2 L2) – before plummeting back to reality with an uninspiring 2-0 defeat away to Fortuna Dusseldorf on Saturday. Coach Streich has stated before that his side has “lacked aggression and stability at times” and that was another display which confirmed his prior criticism. Freiburg do at least have 17/18 top scorer Nils Petersen (15 goals in 32 appearances last season) back amongst their ranks, and he did manage to find the back of the net last time out at the Schwarzwald-Stadion.

Fortunately for Freiburg, their opponents haven’t been doing much better either. Hannover head into this with just one win in their last eight Bundesliga matches (W1 D2 L5) and last weekend’s demoralising 4-0 defeat at home to Bayern Munich won’t have done them much good. Andre Breitenreiter’s side are now rock bottom of the table and four points away from mathematical safety. And with just two matches to go before the winter break, they need a couple of results and fast in order to enjoy the festivities over the Christmas period. A number of injuries to first-team players continues to do coach to do them no favours, though.

It’s not all doom and gloom at Hannover as the return of star forward Niclas Fullkrug a few weeks back has added to their attacking threat – he was the third highest scoring player in the Bundesliga last season (14 goals). However, it’s always been in the North German’s defense where more work has needed doing. Hannover hold one of the worst defensive records in the Bundesliga – 33 goals conceded, an average of over two goals per game – and they’ve been at their worst when on the road. Hannover are winless in a massive 20 Bundesliga games on the road (D7 L13), even though they’ve only failed to score in 12% of their away days this term. Going off that, both teams to score looks a very solid bet.

How many goals Freiburg can score against them is another question though. And with Hannover having conceded two or more goals in six of their last seven away days in the Bundesliga – in fact, the North Germans are on a 24-game wait for a clean sheet on the road – we feel that Freiburg should be capable of getting a few. Freiburg are averaging around 1.5 goals per game at the Schwarzwald-Stadion and with main man Petersen having scored in two of his last three outings there, you’d have to like their odds on keeping those numbers up against Hannover. And with the visitors capable of getting a goal, Freiburg will have to work hard to get a result on Wednesday. Our prediction: 2-1 Freiburg.