Third-place RB Leipzig will be looking to close the gap on league-leaders Bayern Munich as the Bundesliga becomes the first major football division to resume after the enforce coronavirus stoppage.
The German top-flight kicks off again this weekend with a full batch of fixtures, and one of the standout ties of the round sees RB Leipzig host SC Freiburg at the Red Bull Arena on Saturday.
Julian Nagelsmann’s side currently sit one point behind second-place Borussia Dortmund and four behind Bayern.
Leipzig boast the joint-best defensive record in the division, while they also average well over two goals per game in the Bundesliga this season. In fact, no team has lost fewer games than Nagelsmann’s men this term.
RB were flying before the season was put on hold, losing just one of their previous 16 games and securing high-scoring wins over many of the league’s top sides.
February saw Leipzig draw with Bayern and Borussia Monchengladbach before beating Werder Bremen 3-0 and thrashing Schalke 5-0.
Meanwhile, Freiburg slipped to eighth in the table after only managing to win three of their eleven games leading up to the unexpected break in the campaign.
Christian Streich’s men got off to a flier in 2019/20 and were hovering around the European places for the majority of the first half of the season.
However, a couple of poor runs before and after the winter break have seen Freiburg’s dreams of playing in the Europa League next season all but vanish.
Freiburg actually beat Leipzig 2-1 in the reverse fixture back in October, but it’s going to be extremely difficult for Streich’s side to do the double over RB.
Leipzig have beaten Freiburg in three of their previous six meetings, scoring a total of ten goals at an average of over three goals per game.
Furthermore, RB are very strong home soil – losing just once at the Red Bull Arena this term. By contrast, Freiburg have only claimed five victories on the road all season.
With the exception of injured centre-back Willi Orban, Nagelsmann will have a full squad to choose from this weekend. Freiburg also come into this game without any fresh injury worries.
When you couple Leipzig’s superb goalscoring record with Freiburg’s poor away form, a high-scoring home win is on the cards in this game.
Forebet predicts that Leipzig will score over 2.5 goals on their way to victory.