The State of Play
Christian Streich has been in charge of Freiburg for over a decade and he has still managed to get the Batem-Wurttemberg club to consistently punch above their weight. They are in some shaky form at the moment, though, with a 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich last Friday meaning they have managed just one victory in their last eight matches across all competitions as they slip away from the top seven in the Bundesliga.
David Moyes was and probably still is under pressure at West Ham United as they went into the final game of February still winless in the calendar year of 2024 but the Irons have returned to a bit of form now. Jarrod Bowen scored a hat-trick as West Ham defeated Brentford by four goals to two at the London Stadium before they then came from behind to beat Everton 3-1 at Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon.
Read our other Champions League news stories here:
Manchester City vs FC Copenhagen: Preview and prediction
Bayern Munich: Rummenigge plays down Xabi Alonso reports
Real Madrid: Camavinga claims no knowledge of Mbappe agreement
Team News
Christian Streich and Freiburg are dealing with several injury issues for this one. Lukas Kubler, Philipp Lienhart, Kenneth Schmidt, Max Rosenfelder and Daniel-Kofi Kyereh are out unavailable this weekend.
David Moyes and West Ham United only have one injury absentee for this week’s trip to Germany on Thursday evening with Ivorian attacker Maxwel Cornet currently unavailable for the Irons.
Expected Line-ups
Freiburg: Atubolu; Sildillia, Ginter, Gulde, Gunter; Doan, Eggestein, Hofler, Grifo; Sallai, Holer
West Ham United: Fabianski; Coufal, Mavropanos, Zouma, Emerson; Phillips, Alvarez; Bowen, Ward-Prowse, Kudus; Antonio
What they Said
Back in December during the group stages, Freiburg boss Christian Streich described West Ham’s style of football. “I’m sure West Ham will want to press us aggressively at home and try to score early on.”
David Moyes has recently discussed the return of Lucas Paqueta and how important the Brazilian is to the West Ham side, especially with the ‘busy period’ that is coming up this month.
When and How to Watch
This match will be played at SC Stadion on Thursday March 7th at 17:45 and will be shown live on the TNT Sports in the UK. It will also be able to be streamed live via the TNT Sports app.
Prediction
These two faced off in the group stages of this competition with West Ham United managing two victories over their Bundesliga opponents. Freiburg are a stubborn and still overperforming outfit but their opponents have become weather European qualifiers, reaching the semi-final of this competition two years ago before winning the UEFA Europa Conference League last season. Backing a Hammers side that have returned to form of late, too, looks the way to go for this one.
