Freiburg v Frankfurt Betting Tips: Hosts to start the season in good fashion

Match-day one in the Bundesliga is finally upon us although Freiburg and Frankfurt will have to wait until Sunday to start their respective seasons. Both teams experienced relatively good campaigns last term and so both will now be looking to progress further this time around.

As they were separated in the final table by just six points, overall, there wasn’t too much between these two last season and so it’s not all that surprising that there isn’t the greatest disparity in the betting ahead of this match. Having said that, at the prices, only one team stands out. At 6/4, backing the home team to make a winning start to the new season is definitely the way to go.

Having finished in 7th place last season, Freiburg showed everyone that they’re making strides as a club at this level and they will certainly be keen to, at the very least, sustain such a position this time around. There have been some reasonably significant outgoing transfers during the summer, but it appears as though manager Christian Streich has recruited well. The loss of Maximilian Philipp is a big one but, by bringing in Bartosz Kapustka and Pascal Stenzel, the right-hand side still looks fairly sound. What’s more, retaining the services of both Nils Peterson and Florian Niederlechner, or rather signing the latter on a permanent deal, is excellent business. The pair notched 21 goals between them last season and are likely to be key again this time around.

In contrast to their opposition, who’ve at the very worst seemingly retained their level in terms of incoming and outgoing transfers, Frankfurt have arguably weakened overall. Their only notable permanent signing is the capture of Sebastien Haller, though, the step up from the Dutch Eredivisie to the Bundesliga isn’t always something that pays off. Jonathon de Guzman and the mercurial Kevin Prince Boateng have both come in on loan but neither have managed to hold down regular football anywhere in recent years and so both of those additions should be taken with a pinch of salt. In truth, the players who’ve exited the club seem to outweigh those who’ve come in. Ante Rebic has gone back to Fiorentina following his season-long loan, while Jesus Vallejo, who was arguably Frankfurt best player last season, certainly in the defensive third, has also returned to his parent club (Real Madrid). In addition, both Bastian Oczipka and Haris Seferovic have departed for pastures new. To add insult to injury, Niko Kovac’s men come into this fixture with a sizable injury list. Marco Fabian, Danny Blum, Alexander Meier, all of whom were first-team regulars when fit last season, are out with injury. With such personnel problems, against a side who were often hard to beat in front of their own fans last season, it’s easy to see Frankfurt struggling in this opening fixture.

As alluded to previously, Freiburg enjoyed themselves far more on their own patch than they did away from home last season. They lost just five of their 17 home matches, losing only twice to teams who finished outside of the top three. What’s more, they won ten of their other 12 fixtures at Schwarzwald-Stadion. Add in the fact that Frankfurt won just four of their 17 away matches last season, scoring a measly 12 goals on the road all season, and it becomes increasingly hard to make a case for the visitors here.

Scoring goals was a real problem for the visitors last season, especially on the road, and with the business that they’ve done, and the injuries that they currently have, it’s easy to see them experiencing similar issues during the early weeks of this campaign. All things considered, this is an excellent opportunity for Freiburg to start as they mean to go on and they’re well worth backing to come out on top.

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