German Bundesliga
2010-02-06 - SC Freiburg vs Schalke 04
A Sports Betting Pick by Niko
Badenova Stadion
Saturday, 6th February 2010 – kickoff 15:30
SC Freiburg
SC Freiburg could not do much against Bayer Leverkusen last week when they lost 3-1 and the things won`t change much probably this weekend as well.
Schalke 04 are coming in Freiburg and the hosts will have very difficult task to stay unbeaten. This is probably a very bad time to face Schalke 04 who are in-form.
Sc Freiburg are on a negative run of six straight matches being winless and have not taken a single point in the second part of the season. They have recorded just five points out of nine home matches this season and that speaks for itself how bad this team is.
Coach Robin Dutt will field the same team that faced Bayer Leverkusen in the last round but the biggest problem for him is that he does not have many alternatives at the bench.
Good news is the return of the Mohamadou Idrissou and Papiss Demba Cisse who were at the African cup of nations, but they are still clearly out of form.
The midfielders Krmas (hamstring), Caligiuri (tendon irritation) and Namouchi (hamstring) are all out of the squad.
Schalke 04
Schalke 04 quickly recovered from the unexpected draw against Bochum two weeks ago and recorded a morale boosting win last week against Hoffenheim.
Kevin Kuranyi is in ‘red hot’ form, he continued with his goal scoring spree and is a most likely candidate for the title best Bundesliga scorer this season.
The team is doing pretty good so far as their aim prior this season was to finish in the top five teams and they already surprised many with the stability and the team chemistry.
The team got some new signings in the last moment before the transfer window closes and they signed a 20-year-old striker Mario Gavranovic who joined the team from the Swiss side Xamax and the 22-year-old Chinese player Hao Junmin who has become the first Chinese player ever to play for this club. He has played 26 times for his national team and has scored five goals.
Coach Felix Magath has worries about the injury of the offensive midfielder Rafinha (adductor strain) who probably will not be able to help the team. Peer Kluge returns again in the squad, but will start this match from the bench.
The Betting Verdict
The statistics are clearly on Schalke 04 side as they have recorded 21 wins over SC Freiburg combined with 9 losses and 8 drawn matches.
The first match between these sides ended in shocking 1-0 win for SC Freiburg in Gelsenkirchen.
Schalke 04 cannot afford to slip twice against this opponent and Coach Magath has said that they are preparing hard, will not underestimate SC Freiburg and that they must pay back for the loss in the first part of the season.
On the other hand, SC Freiburg are playing very poor, they seem very ’shaky’ in the defense and their attack is quiet. In their last three matches they have scored only once.
Everything points to me for another Schalke 04 win and the price on away win is really good.
The Statistics :
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pick :
SC Freiburg 0-2 Schalke 04
