Our next opponents: Leaders Freiburg with good balance

Position

Freiburg come into Matchday 6 top of the table with 13 points and a goal difference of +10. It’s the best start they have ever made to a Bundesliga season. Last weekend they also showed they can prevail against the odds after they had Yuito Suzuki sent off in the 64th minute of their home game against Schalke with the score at 1-1, but still managed to win. “I’m proud the guys pushed through with ten men. We managed to make it feel like we didn’t even have a man disadvantage, so it was deserved in the end,” said coach Schuster after making it four wins out of five in the league. His side had previously been victorious over Werder Bremen (4-1), Paderborn (1-0) and Borussia Mönchengladbach (5-0). They have only dropped points in the 2-2 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Freiburg had kicked off the domestic season with a comfortable 5-1 win at Fortuna Düsseldorf in the first round of the DFB Pokal. On Thursday they began their UEFA Conference League campaign with a 3-2 victory at home to Jablonec thanks to a Vincenzo Grifo free-kick and Maximilian Eggestein volley. It was Schuster’s 100th game at the Freiburg helm, but he wasn’t entirely satisfied with the performance: “The opposition had very few opportunities but were able to score too many goals.”

The Black Forest club have a demanding run of fixtures ahead both at home and abroad. After Sunday’s visit to Leverkusen, they go to Monaco in the Conference League on Thursday before hosting champions Bayern Munich at the weekend.

Personnel

With Suzuki suspended for this game after his dismissal, Schuster will have to make a change in attacking midfield for the first time this season. The Japanese playmaker has been key for the Black Forest club, scoring four goals that include a hat-trick in the win over Bremen. Lucas Höler is an option to plug that gap in a team that has started with the same 11 players in each of the last three league fixtures.

Goalkeeper Mio Backhaus starts behind a now tried-and-trusted back four of Philipp Treu, Matthias Ginter, Philipp Lienhart and Jordy Makengo. Yannik Engelhardt and Eggestein are the first-choice pairing in central midfield. Niklas Beste, Suzuki and Derry Scherhant have usually been preferred behind Igor Matanovic. Even Max Rosenfelder, who was recently called up by Jürgen Klopp for Germany for the first time alongside Treu, Engelhardt and Scherhant, has struggled to make more than one Bundesliga appearance. But Freiburg have a deep squad, giving Schuster options from the bench to make an impact. We saw that last weekend against Schalke as substitutes Grifo and Keisuke Goto combined for the winning goal.

As well as the suspended Suzuki, Freiburg are also without the injured trio of Florent Muslija (ACL), Bruno Ogbus (muscular) and Berkay Yilmaz (dental).

Problems

It’s tough to spot major weaknesses in this Freiburg team right now. There were spells of lax defending against Jablonec, while three of the four goals they’ve conceded in the Bundesliga have come from set pieces. They may rank among the lowest in the division for sprints (156 per game) and distance covered (116.3 kilometres per game), but Freiburg have been able to dominate most matches on the whole. We also have to see how they cope without Suzuki.

Performers

Freiburg have scored 14 goals in the Bundesliga – the same as Leverkusen – which ranks third behind Bayern (16) and RB Leipzig (15) coming into Matchday 6. It’s the most they’ve ever had at this stage of a top-flight campaign. Their four headed goals and three strikes from outside the penalty area are both the best totals in the division. As is their average of only 2.6 shots per goal. Freiburg are also the most fouled team in the Bundesliga with an average of 14 infringements against them per game. Backhaus and his defence have conceded only four goals, which is the best in the league alongside Bayern and Borussia Dortmund.