The two 2. Bundesliga teams with the only remaining 100% records square up this Saturday in Freiburg, both looking to maintain their fantastic starts to the season.
Overview
Both sides go into this early season "six-pointer" having won three games from three, including 0-5 away wins for both, albeit against lower league opposition, in the DFB Pokal last weekend. SC Freiburg made light work of Oberliga Hamburg side Barmbek-Uhlenhorst, whereas VfL Bochum put Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar side Salmrohr to the sword.
Form
The home side will be looking to maintain their free-scoring start. They've notched up an impressive 12 goals in their opening three matches, conceding just 3 in the process. But Bochum will be a tough nut to crack. The Ruhr side are yet to concede a single goal this season, and after impressive 0-1 and 3-0 wins against Paderborn and Duisburg respectively, they're only second to Freiburg in the standings on goals scored.
Freiburg have registered equally impressive league wins so far this season. A 6-3 victory against promotion-hopefuls 1. FC Nürnberg in the opening matchday followed by a 0-1 away win in Munich against 1860 leaves the Baden-Württemberg side top of the pile early on.
Head-to-head
The two sides haven't faced each other competitively since 2010, where they played out a 1-1 draw in the Bundesliga. Overall, Bochum hold the upper hand in their last five meetings; winning two, drawing two and losing just once, but these meetings stretch back as far as 2005. Both Christian Streich and Gertjan Verbeek will be keen to draw first blood in the first meeting between the two sides in five years.
Key players
Having already scored eight times in just three matches, and averaging a goal every half-an-hour so far this season, Bochum will be keen to eradicate the threat that Nils Petersen poses.
Three of those eight goals have come from the penalty spot, so Bochum will also have to be wary of wide men Vincenzo Grifo and Maximilian Philipp, who don't need a second invitation to run at the full-backs.
Grifo has started particularly well, and is fast becoming a fans favourite, so one would expect the Bochum full-backs, Stefano Celozzi and Timo Perthel, will have to be on top of their game to nullify the Italian on Saturday.
2. Bundesliga fans will need no introduction to Simon Terrode and Marco Terrazzino. The Bochum attackers notched up over 20 goals between them last season and have started similarly as impressively this time out.
The two players scored all five of their teams goals in the DFB-Pokal last weekend, Terrode helped himself to the match ball and Terrazzino notched up a brace. In particular, Terrazzino will be familiar to the Freiburg faithful. He spent two years, between 2012 and 2014, with Freiburg, playing over 20 times for SC Freiburg and SC Freiburg II, scoring six in his time with the club.