Freiburg will take on Stuttgart on Saturday, 24 August in what will be both clubs' opening matches of the new Bundesliga season.
The hosts will be aware of just how difficult this fixture will be for them after Stuttgart finished in second place last season.
Stuttgart's brilliant season was somewhat overshadowed by Bayer Leverkusen but finishing second was a great achievement. How they follow that up will be fascinating to see.
How the bookies view it: Stuttgart go in favourites
Stuttgart come into the match as the favourites with the bookies which is something they are going to have to get used to this season after how they performed in 23/24. Betfred have priced a Stuttgart win at 19/20 while a Freiburg win has been priced at 12/5. The draw, which wouldn't be a bad result for the hosts, has also been priced at 12/5.
Recent head-to-head: Promising signs for Freiburg
Although they are the underdogs, there are plenty of promising signs for Freiburg when you look at their recent record against Stuttgart. Freiburg have won five of their last seven matches against Stuttgart so there will be plenty of belief within the camp that they can take something from the game. Stuttgart will take solace from the fact they completed the double over Freiburg last season.
Players to watch: Undav to step up for Stuttgart
Deniz Undav enjoyed a good season at Stuttgart last season on loan from Brighton so much so that the club elected to spend £26m to bring him in permanently this summer. Undav scored 19 goals and provided nine assists for Stuttgart last season and the pressure is on to do even better this season now he is a permanent member of the squad.
To add to the pressure, Serhou Guirassy has been sold to Borussia Dortmund which means 28 league goals are going to need to be replaced somewhere. Undav won't be able to do that alone but he will be expected to become the club's new leading man.
Freiburg also have a player who needs to step up in terms of goalscoring. Junior Adamu moved to the club from RB Salzburg last summer but failed to score a single goal in the Bundesliga. He netted twice in Freiburg's DFB-Pokal win last week, which could be a sign of better things to come this season.
Predicted line-ups
Both teams have injured players for this one which isn't ideal for the first match of a new season. Mathias Ginter and Daniel-Kofi Kyereh are certain to miss out for Freiburg while Nikolas Nartey, Luca Raimund, Josha Vagnoman and Dan-Axel Zagadou are unavailable for Stuttgart.
Freiburg: Muller – Kubler, Rosenfelder, Lienhart, Gunter – Doan, Eggestein, Osterhage, Grifo – Holer, Adamu
Stuttgart: Nubel – Stenzel, Keitel, Chabot, Mittelstadt – Millot, Karazor, Stiller, Fuhrich – Undav, Demirovic
Anything else catch the eye?
Both teams have already played one competitive match so far this season. Stuttgart lost the German Super Cup on penalties last weekend while Freiburg beat Osnabruck 4-0 in the DFB-Pokal. Four goals were scored in each of those matches which suggests we could be in for an entertaining match on Saturday. Over 2.5 goals to be scored is priced at 4/6.
This German Bundesliga match between Freiburg and Stuttgart will be played on Aug 24, 2024 and kick off at 14:30. Check below for our tipsters best Freiburg vs Stuttgart prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
