Preview: Schalke 04 vs. Freiburg - prediction, team news, lineups

The visitors, meanwhile, may require a positive result in order to remain in the top four positions depending on results elsewhere.

Match preview

With VfL Bochum stunning league leaders Union Berlin with a 2-1 win last weekend, Schalke's defeat to Hertha Berlin by the same scoreline saw them drop to the foot of the Bundesliga table.

Florent Mollet looked to have provided Die Konigsblauen with a precious point at the Olympiastadion after cancelling out Lucas Tousart's opener with only five minutes of normal time remaining, but Wilfried Kanga's last-gasp winner broke Schalke's hearts.

They have at least appointed a permanent successor for Frank Kramer - who was sacked after successive defeats to Hoffenheim - earlier this week, with former Bochum boss Thomas Reis tasked as the man to help Schalke avoid an instant return to the second tier of German football.

Having guided Bochum to an impressive 13th-placed finish before struggling in the early weeks of this campaign, the 49-year-old clearly has decent credentials for the task at hand, but it remains to be seen whether he has the tools at his disposal to pull it off.

Reis has certainly not been handed an easy first game in charge against in-form Freiburg, but with the Veltins Arena likely to be fully behind him and his players on Sunday, they clearly have a better chance of recording an upset than they would have done one week ago.

Freiburg, meanwhile, bounced back from their 5-0 mauling at the hands of Bayern Munich to beat Werder Bremen 2-0 at home last weekend.

In truth, Marco Friedl's 14th-minute dismissal for a professional foul to prevent Michael Gregoritsch having a one-on-one opportunity made Freiburg's job much easier, with their win never looking in any doubt once Lukas Kubler had broken the deadlock shortly after half-time before Vincenzo Grifo's penalty 10 minutes from time.

Kubler rescued a point with his second goal in successive games against Olympiacos in a 1-1 draw in the Europa League on Thursday, although in truth the result did not matter a great deal to Christian Streich's side with top spot in Group G already secured after Qarabag FK lost to Nantes.

Finishing first in the group means that Freiburg will advance to the last-16 of the competition and avoid competing in the last-32 altogether, giving them two additional free slots in the New Year and helping them sustain their effort towards the top of the Bundesliga, as well as the latter stages of the DFB-Pokal after beating St Pauli 2-1 last week.

Streich will be urging his players to live up to their billing as favourites in Gelsenkirchen, while warning them of a potential new manager bounce for Schalke despite their recent struggles.

Schalke 04 Bundesliga form:

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Schalke 04 form (all competitions):

L

L

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L

Freiburg Bundesliga form:

D

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Freiburg form (all competitions):

D

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D

Team News

Schalke will remain without Sepp van den Berg, Leo Greiml, Marcin Kaminski, Ibrahima Cisse and Rodrigo Zalazar due to injury at the weekend.

Reis flickered between a back three and back four during his time at Bochum, but with the former almost earning his new team a point away to Hertha last weekend, he may ask the same starting XI to go out again and perform in a similar manner with the intention of avoiding defeat at worst.

Freiburg, meanwhile, will travel without Kimberly Ezekwem, Roland Sallai, Jonathan Schmid and Manuel Gulde due to injury.

Despite already being through to the knockout stages, Streich surprisingly only made one change to his starting XI for the draw against Olympiacos on Thursday, with Kiliann Sildillia likely to return to the starting XI on Sunday.

Schalke 04 possible starting lineup:

Schwolow; Brunner, Yoshida, Matriciani; Aydin, Kral, Krauss, Ouwejan; Drexler, Terrode, Bulter

Freiburg possible starting lineup:

Flekken; Kubler, Ginter, Lienhart; Sildillia, Eggestein, Hofler, Gunter; Kyereh, Grifo; Gregoritsch

We say: Schalke 04 1-2 Freiburg

Freiburg may be a little tired from their European exploits on Thursday, but we expect them to have too much quality for Schalke in the end.

The hosts have lost six successive matches in all competitions and it is likely to take time for Reis's desired methods to have an impact, but they should show more fight than of late at least.

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