Adi Hutter makes his Bundesliga managerial debut against the longest-serving coach in the league in Christian Streich as Eintracht Frankfurt open their Bundesliga campaign by paying SC Freiburg a visit at the Schwarzwald-Stadion on Saturday, August 25, 2018.
SC Freiburg is coming off a great preseason where they won six out of their eight friendlies while losing just once. Their meeting with Energie Cottbus in the first round of the DFB Cup went the distance but they prevailed 5-3 in a penalty shootout.
Nils Petersen and Mike Frantz scored the two goals for the Black Forest outfit. Petersen finished second in the Bundesliga in scoring last season with 15 goals. It can be recalled that Peterson recorded a hat trick during SC Freiburg’s 4-1 conquest of Eintracht Frankfurt at Schwarzwald-Stadion in January 2015.
Freiburg lost defender Caglar Söyüncü who signed a five-year deal to join Premier League squad Leicester City earlier this month. But they have added familiar Bundesliga faces like Jerome Gondorf, Dominic Heintz, and Luca Waldschmidt who all suited up in the match against Cottbus. Freiberg also bagged right winger Brandon Borello via free transfer from Kaiserlautern.
SC Freiburg vs Eintracht Frankfurt 8/25/18
Odds: Freiburg +130, Frankfurt +220
Odds from Betway as of 8/24/18
Over at Frankfurt, Adi Hutter succeeded Niko Kovac as the man in charge for the Eagles. Hutter suffered a 0-5 pounding at the hands of Bayern Munich in the Super Cup and if that wasn’t bad enough, the Eagles got a surprise 1-2 beating from fourth tier side Ulm at the DFB Cup. Hutter looks to start his Bundesliga career on the right foot against Freiburg.
The Eagles have brought in winger Filip Costic with the Serbian coming in from a two-year loan from relegated Hamburg. Frankfurt also added Brazilian Allan on a loan agreement with English Premier League side Liverpool and midfielder Chico Geraldes on another loan deal with Sporting Lisbon. But perhaps one of the most eye-catching deals made by Frankfurt was the 1.5M euros transfer of 24-year-old midfielder Lucas Torro from the Spanish side Osasuna.
Frankfurt have also extended winger Ante Rebic to a deal until 2022 but the man who was instrumental in Croatia’s 2018 FIFA World Cup appearance is doubtful to suit up for this encounter. Rebic was a key component for Eintracht Frankfurt’s 8th place finish and DFB Cup win in the last term. Defender Timmy Chandler is likewise out due to injury. However, Frankfurt will likely suit up new signee Goncalo Paciencia who scored the Eagles’ consolation goal versus Ulm.
There are only five top flight teams whom Freiburg has a positive head to head win-loss record against. Eintracht is one of them as Freiburg has won 12 out of 28 fixtures against the Eagles. Eintracht Frankfurt has 11 wins against Freiburg while five matches between these two sides ended in a draw.
Freiburg is unbeaten in their last five Bundesliga head to head meetings with three victories and two defeats. The last time Eintracht Frankfurt won against Freiburg was a 1-0 triumph at home on August 23, 2014. That stands as their only win against Freiburg in the teams’ last 9 encounters. In those nine games, Eintracht Frankfurt has scored just a total of six goals against Freiburg and they have not scored more than one goal in any of those nine matches. Moreover, the last time Eintracht Frankfurt won in Freiburg was in September 2009 when Maik Franz and Alexander Meier each scored to give Eintracht Frankfurt a 2-0 victory.
The Eagles were busy tweaking their team in the transfer window. You’d expect Eintracht Frankfurt’s new signings to make an impact here as they have invested significant sums of money in transfers this summer. But this has not been a happy hunting ground for the Eagles as we saw in their head to head matches. Freiburg seems to have Frankfurt’s numbers and because of that plus their preseason form, we’re going with home team here.
We’re picking SC Freiburg to beat Eintracht Frankfurt on 8/25/18.
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