Lens – Freiburg : Preview & Prediction
After failing to advance from their Champions League group this season, French side Lens now find themselves in the UEFA Europa League knockout round playoffs thanks to their third-place finish behind Arsenal and PSV. In what is their first European campaign since the 2007/08 “UEFA Cup”, the home side should be buoyed by a 3-1 Ligue 1 win over Strasbourg at the weekend, which took their league winning streak to three consecutive matches.
Given that two of their wins in that sequence were accompanied by clean sheets, a strong defensive performance could be Lens’ best path to success here in the first leg, which will be played at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis. Given that the home side were unbeaten in all three of their Champions League group stage home games this campaign, including 2-1 wins over Arsenal and Sevilla, they should be confident of extending that unbeaten run even further in European competition.
Bundesliga side Freiburg are their opponents for this two-legged tie after finishing second in their Europa League group, and having lost their last three consecutive games in the German Bundesliga, they will make the relatively short trip to northern France without recent success. Perhaps more worryingly, in each of those defeats Freiburg conceded exactly three goals, an area in which Christian Streich’s side usually excels, which is beginning to cause concern among the club’s supporters.
The visitors are likely in no mood to return to the road either, having lost each of their last four official away games and conceded at least two goals in all four. One of those defeats came during the Europa League group stage, when they lost 2-0 to West Ham at the London Stadium, but looking further back to their two away wins in the group stage in September and October could offer Freiburg some much-needed confidence.
Players to watch: Lens’ Elye Wahi increased his tally to five goals in all competitions over the weekend, two of which came at home in the Champions League earlier this season. As for Freiburg, they could take inspiration from Lucas Höler, who has scored six goals this season, three of which opened the scoring.
Key fact: During the Europa League group stage, only BK Hacken (five) received fewer yellow cards than Freiburg (six).
Lens – Freiburg : Betting Tips
Lens – Win Odds: 1.80
