Freiburg vs West Ham. Prediction and Preview. Probable Lineups, Team News, Stats, and more
SC Freiburg will host West Ham United FC in the UEFA Europa League Group A 2nd round match at the Europa Park Stadium. The fixture will take place on Thursday, October 5, beginning at 22:15 IST.
Parimatch News will tell you everything you need to know ahead of the upcoming match.
Freiburg News & Current Form:
Breisgau-Brazilians started the current season with 3 wins in a row. However, the impression of the team in these duels is mixed. It beat SV Oberachern in the DFB-Pokal (2:0), then there was a triumph over TSG Hoffenheim (2:1), where Freiburg was helped by an auto-goal by Attila Szalai.
In the 2nd round of the Bundesliga wards of Streich in the last seconds beat SV Werder Bremen thanks to a goal by Maximilian Philipp. Since then, the team has been in turbulence mode.
In the next 5 matches the team suffered 2 defeats from VfB Stuttgart (0:5) and Borussia Dortmund (2:4), conceding 9 goals in these meetings. There was also a victory over FC Augsburg, a draw with Eintracht Frankfurt (0:0). Despite its unstable game, the team occupies the 8th position in the Bundesliga, 3 points behind the top-5.
Top scorer of SC Freiburg – Vincenzo Grifo
Christian Streich’s team played the previous match on their home field against Augsburg, one of the main outsiders at the start of the Bundesliga season. Freiburg opened the scoring in the 6th minute with a penalty converted by Vincenzo Grifo, and at the beginning of the second half they doubled their lead – Philipp Lienhart scored from a pass by the same Grifo. 2:0 – Breisgau-Brazilians secured a confident victory.
Freiburg started the UEFA Europa League with an away game against Olympiacos FC and managed to send three goals into the Greeks’ goal, which is quite rare in Piraeus. The Germans themselves conceded twice and secured a 3:2 victory. Maximilian Philipp scored the winning goal in the 86th minute.
West Ham News & Current Form:
The Hammers have made an unexpectedly sharp start to the current season with 3 wins in 4 starting rounds in the English Premier League with a 1:1 draw with AFC Bournemouth. Then the Londoners have slipped into the group of Premier League leaders. But they failed to survive in matches with the favorites of the championship.
Moyes’ wards lost to Manchester City and Liverpool FC with the same score 1:3. Last round they managed to rehabilitate for these defeats, defeating Sheffield United FC (2:0) thanks to goals from Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek. In seven rounds of the EPL David Moyes’ team already has four wins and only three points behind the top-4 – the UEFA Champions League zone.
The main hero of West Ham in the current season is Bowen. He has scored 5 goals in 7 EPL matches. For comparison: in the last championship Bowen distinguished himself 6 times in 36 confrontations. There are special hopes for him in the game against Freiburg.
Jarrod Bowen – most prolific player of West Ham United FC
David Moyes’ team can already be called an experienced European Cup fighter. On the continental arena the Hammers play for the third year in a row, and almost the same squad.
In the previous two seasons, the Londoners showed excellent results – the semifinals of the Europa League and victory in the UEFA Europa Conference League last year, and in the current one they are aiming for new achievements. In the first round, the team won a confident victory over Serbian club FK TSC Bačka Topola – 3:1.
It is noteworthy that all the goals in this match were scored after the break. The Hammers conceded at the very beginning of the second half, but eventually responded with three effective strikes. Ghanaian Mohammed Kudus scored a double.
Partially, the players manage to compensate for the vulnerability in defense with a good game in attack. They generate an average of 1.59 xG per game in the EPL, and one of the most efficient in attack is James Ward-Prowse (2+3).
Freiburg form guide: W-L-L-W-D-W
West Ham form guide: W-L-W-L-W-W
Freiburg vs West Ham Predicted XI:
Freiburg’s possible starting lineup (3-4-3): Atubolu; Sildillia, Ginter, Lienhart; Sallai, Rohl, Eggestein, Kubler; Doan, Holer, Grito.
West Ham’s possible starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Kehrer, Zouma, Mavropanos, Palmieri; Alvarez, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta; Kudus, Antonio, Benrahma.
Statistical preview of the match Freiburg vs West Ham:
- Freiburg’s First XI average age is 27.5 years, West Ham’s First XI average age is 28.7 years.
- The total value of Freiburg’s squad is 164 mln euros, while West Ham’s is 443 mln euros.
- West Ham have not conceded in 5 of their last 7 away games in the Europa League.
- Freiburg have not won in their last 2 home encounters in the Europa League.
- The Hammers have conceded more than 1 goal in only 1 of their 7 previous away matches in the second most prestigious continental tournament.
- In 9 of Freiburg’s 10 previous matches in this European Cup, at least 2 goals were scored.
- No more than two goals have been scored in 6 of Freiburg’s last 7 home games in this tournament.
- The Londoners have not conceded in 5 of their previous 7 away games in the Europa League (3 wins and 2 draws).
- Freiburg have not lost in regular time in 6 of their last 8 home games in the LE (3 wins and 3 draws).
- Mohammed Al-Hakim from Sweden has been appointed as head referee for the match. In the new season, the official has served only two games so far. He is averaging 1.5 Yellow Cards per match, as well as 20 fouls per 90 minutes.
- Freiburg are averaging 1.63 Yellow Cards per game, while West Ham are picking 2.22.
- 6 of West Ham United’s last eight matches have seen more than 2.5 goals scored.
- Seven of West Ham’s last nine appearances have seen both teams score.
- The English club have opened the scoring seven times in their last nine appearances in all competitions.
- The German side have gone into the break as winners four times in their last five matches.
- Statistics suggest that there should be at least a dozen corners in a match. Freiburg have an average of 4.63 corners per game, while West Ham have 6.
- Freiburg have scored in six of the eight meetings so far this season, while West Ham have scored in each of the nine fixtures of the campaign
What has been said before the match:
Coach of SC Freiburg Christian Streich about Premier League and the upcoming opponent:
“It was extremely important for us to win the Augsburg game. It’s not easy to deal with the changes. But we’ve been successful with it in the past few years.”
“In terms of transfers, West Ham is in a range where someone can sit on the bench for 30 or 40 million. But that’s normal in the Premier League. “I’ve also been in football for a few days and I’ve never played against an English team in a competitive match. That’s something very special. There’s no question that it’s an incredible level in the Premier League.”
“I’m really looking forward to the fact that we can now compete against such an established Premier League team. The Premier League is the strongest league.”
“You don’t have to be deeper, you have to keep the clearances down, be smart and make good decisions against the ball. You certainly – because the game is faster sometimes – have to have a high level of awareness. That’s a challenge.”
“When you win a few duels, the crowd is there right away. Every one-on-one you win tomorrow, you’re applauded. That’s the advantage of being the underdog.”
David Moyes, gaffer of the Hammers, about being a European club:
“We’re playing against a really good team who have had excellent success in the Bundesliga in the last couple of years and have also done really well in Europe too.”
“They have a manager who has been in place for a long time and that stability goes a long way. They’ve certainly shown that at this club, they may not be the biggest household name in Germany but they’ve certainly grown as a football club and got themselves in a really good position.”
“We’ve had brilliant support away from home in Europe so I’m disappointed we can’t get the supporters here. We had a great journey getting to the final last year, and the semi-finals and all the other games before that as well.”
“Tomorrow night we know it will be difficult – there will be a big crowd and every time you come to Germany the atmosphere in the stadium has been fantastic. We found it in Frankfurt, we’ve found it in all the stadiums we’ve been in and we don’t expect any difference here.”
“Maybe for a long, long time Europe has not been in the DNA of West Ham. We are now a European club, we’re in Europe for a third year in a row and I take pride in that. We certainly don’t take it for granted, you’re privileged to be in a European competition and you go into every game feeling that you’re going to have to earn it.”
Freiburg vs West Ham Prediction:
The rivals have made a bright start to the new season and will surely play for results against each other. West Ham have only two defeats in nine matches of the season, taking into account different tournaments and competitions. Freiburg have played eight matches and have also lost twice. At the same time, Christian Streich’s wards can not find stability and are only in 8th position in the Bundesliga. The London Stadium residents also can not boast an impressive series without defeats, but here the context is the level of opponents in the EPL, which took away points from David Moyes – Manchester City and Liverpool. So the situation here looks a little more promising.
These teams attack the opponent’s goal with great vigor, while their defencive lines are poor and they concede a lot. This tournament is essential for both camps, so the approach will be really serious and determined. Even though some of the core players may be giving a rest. The vis-a-vis have started the UEL 23/24 campaign with victories and a tie in the face-to-face encounter may well suit them: the fear of giving away a valuable 3 points to a direct rival will be a bit of a constraint for the teams.
However, differently both teams earned their points: while Breisgau Brazalians could only push for the victory in the 86th minute in a difficult away game in Greece against Olympiacos (3-2), for the Hammers it was an easy outing in London against a modest FK TSC Bačka Topola (3-1). After that, the teams played matches in their national competitions, where the Black and Whites drew and won once. West Ham, on the other hand, after a confident victory in Uel Bačka Topola, played three games, lost only to Liverpool, and the next two games won even without conceding, surely in this form Londoners will show their teeth on the road.
Looking spectacular in attack the opponents rarely leave the field without scoring, the Germans have scored in six of the eight meetings during the current season, and the English – in each of the nine games of the campaign. We conclude that they will be able to exchange goals in the face-off.
We expect that most of the challenge will happen in the final thirds, which suggests a lot of work for the assistant referees near the corner flags. And since the English are much better in this respect (Freiburg average 4.63 corners per game, and West Ham – 6) while also set-pieces are often the key to getting points on the road, we expect them to produce their usual total on serves from the flags.
Parimatch News staff prediction:
We say: Both teams will score and West Ham will serve over 5.5 corner kicks – Yes.
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