It's fourth vs fifth in the Bundesliga this weekend as FSV Mainz 05 welcome SC Freiburg to the Mewa Arena on Saturday afternoon in what will hopefully be an entertaining and memorable match.

Mainz come into this match on the back of a brilliant two goals to nil win against ninth place TSG Hoffenheim last weekend.

It means that Mainz find themselves in a brilliant fourth position in the league table. With them being only three points behind league leaders VFL Wolfsburg, and difficult matches against Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen to come in the next few matchdays Mainz will know that they have to win on Saturday to keep their good start to the season going.

In contrast, Freiburg drew to ten-man FC Köln in what was a lackluster and disappointing display from them.

However, despite the result, Freiburg find themselves in fifth place just one point behind Mainz who sit directly above them and under pressure from Bayer Leverkusen in sixth and Koln in seventh both of whom are a point behind them.  

With matches against RB Leipzig and league leaders, Wolfsburg coming up in the next few matchdays, like Mainz Freiburg know this is a must-win or else they could drop down the league table.

Team news

Mainz head coach Bo Svensson has two major injury concerns going into the match against Freiburg. Moussa Niakhaté is set to miss out due to a serious thigh injury, while Aarón Martin is also a doubt as he continues to recover from a groin injury.

Meanwhile, Freiburg head coach Christian Streich has no major injury concerns however several players remain doubtful to be available on Saturday. Nicolas Höfler looks set to miss out due to a foot injury while Jonathon Schmid also remains a doubt due to a lack of match fitness.

Predicted Lineups

FSV Mainz: Zentner, St. Juste, Bell, Hack, Widmer, Barreiro, Kohr, Lucoqui, Boeitus, Burkhardt, Ingvartsen

SC Freiburg: Flekken, Kübler, Lienheart, N. Schlotterbeck, Günter, Sallai, Keitel, Eggestein, Grifo, Jeong, Höler

Players to watch

Jonathan Burkhardt

Having started with the club at U17 level Jonathan Burkhardt has risen up through the ranks and has now become one of their most important players.

Burkhardt is his club's top scorer so far this season with a total of three goals in the Bundesliga and DFB pokal and will be hoping to continue where he left off last weekend as he scored his first goal against Hoffenheim.

Mainz know that Burkhardt will have to be on top form in order to beat their rivals.

Jeong Woo-Yeong

After having a relatively poor season last year scoring just four times in 26 games in the Bundesliga, Jeong Woo-Yeong has already scored two goals in four matches both of which came in three goals to two wins against VFB Stuttgart.

Streich will be hoping that Woo-Yeong can help Freiburg overcome the Mainz defense and help them to win the match so that they can leapfrog Mainz in the league table.

 

Last time out

The last time these two faced each other Mainz narrowly won by one goal to nil against Freiburg.

The match started off quickly with Mainz almost taking the lead within three minutes when Burkhardt's shot was brilliantly saved by the Freiburg goalkeeper following the pass from Jean-Paul Boëitus.

Barely a minute later Mainz almost took the lead again this time Phillip Mwene put a dangerous cross however Leandro Barreiro Martins missed his shot from the center of the Freiburg box.

After sustaining the early pressure from Mainz, Freiburg got their first chance in the 14th minute. Vincent Grifo beat several Mainz defenders before placing his shot from the right-hand side beyond the goal.

Barely 7 minutes later Mainz then had two chances in quick succession, Mwene's right-footed shot was saved by Florian Muller, a minute later he saved another shot this time from Adam Szalai.

with neither team able to score they went in deadlock at half-time.

Freiburg started the second half the brighter and almost scored in the 55th minute when Lucas Höller headed the ball over Muller's crossbar following a good delivery by Christian Günter.

Both teams continued to make chances, however, in the 84th minute, Mainz managed to get the ball in the back of the Freiburg net. Boetius did good work on the left-hand side before whipping a ball into the penalty area which Robin Quiason put into the net.

 

How to watch

Unfortuantely the match will not be shown live in the UK however fans in the US can watch the match on ESPN+.

 

 

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