Looking to get back to winning ways | OneFootball

SVW take a trip to face SC Freiburg on Friday night (Photo: WERDER.DE).

Previewing Friday’s match away to SC Freiburg

Once again, SVW will take to the pitch for a Friday night clash under the floodlights when they travel to face SC Freiburg on 21st February (kick-off 20:30 CET). Their opponents currently sit fifth in the table and have their sights set on Champions League qualification.

Team news: Marco Friedl (knee ligament strain), Keke Topp (break from training) and Milos Veljkovic, who had to cut his team training session short on Thursday afternoon due to back problems, are all unavailable to head coach Ole Werner. There is, however, good news regarding Jens Stage’s fitness as he is set to make a return following absence through muscular problems.

Ole Werner on the opponents: “The side we are set to take on is largely the same one as that which we faced in the reverse fixture. They retain good discipline and organisation. Our primary task is to stay solid at the back. Weaknesses become all the more apparent in the final third of the season so we need to sharpen up the things that we haven’t been doing so well in recent weeks.”

Julian Malatini’s memorable debut

Malatini scored on his first appearance for SVW (Photo: nordphoto).

Recent meetings: The Green-Whites last took all three points home against SCF during the 2023/24 campaign when Julian Malatini made a dream start to life in a Werder shirt. Just two minutes after being substituted on for his debut, he found himself in the unfamiliar position of the opposing penalty area, only to net the goal to make it 3-1 and secure victory for his new club. SVW have won 25 of the clashes between the sides up until this point, while there have been 10 previous draws as well as 10 victories for Freiburg.

Clean sheets: SC Freiburg are rarely having to pick the ball out of their net. In fact, their last opponents St. Pauli registered an expected goals total of just 0.2 come full-time, which is the lowest of any side so far this season. Freiburg keeper Noah Atubolu is currently on a run of 306 minutes without conceding and has recorded seven clean sheets across his 19 appearances so far in this campaign. The Green-Whites’ task is to put an end to his staunch streak.