Lens - Freiburg predictions and free betting tips [15/02/2024]

On Thursday, the 15th of February, in the first leg of the Europa League's round of 32, "Lens" will host "Freiburg" on their home ground. The hosts secured the third place in the Champions League, in a quartet featuring "Arsenal", "PSV", and "Seville", whereas "Freiburg" has made it to the continental competition playoffs in two consecutive seasons.

Predicted Line-Ups

Lens: Samba; Aguilar, Danso, Gradit; Frankowski, Diouf, Abdul Samed, Jhoanner Chaves; Sotoca, Wahi, Guilavogui.
Freiburg: Atubolu; Kubler, Sildillia, Szalai, Gunter; Eggestein, Hofler; Doan, Sallai, Grifo; Gregoritsch.

Stadium

The match will be held in Lens at the Bollaert-Delelis stadium.

Lens

The 11 points that Lens gained from group B weren't enough for them to advance into the Champions League's round of 16. However, the red and yellows captured the 3rd place, outpacing "Sevilla", whom they beat with a score of 2:1 in the final round at Bollaert. They made it to the semi-finals of the Europa League (then, it was called the UEFA Cup) back in 2000, where they were knocked out by London's "Arsenal".

Having had a rough start in their domestic league, it seems that Lens has regained its form over the past few weeks, a fact corroborated by their current 6th position in the tournament table. Currently, Lens is just an arm's length away from the podium (by 3 points) and have won their last 3 matches in Ligue 1 - against "Toulouse"(0:2), "Nantes" (0:1), and "Strasbourg" last weekend (3:1), with Vai, Costa, and Sotoka making the scoresheet. 

Freiburg

German "Freiburg" logically secured the second place in their Europa League group, yielding the first spot to "West Ham", whom they suffered two losses against. No team apart from "Bayer Leverkusen" scored more goals in the group stage than the guests - they hit 17, mainly thanks to their crushing victories against "Olympiacos" and "Backa Topola".

Freiburg has been participating in European tournaments for several seasons in a row now. Nonetheless, their current 7th position in the Bundesliga table has been a disappointment for their fans owing to their numerous lost points. Of importance is to note that the white and blacks have been failing to deliver on the road: they have suffered four defeats in their last five matches. 

Head-to-Head Matches

These teams have never faced each other in official matches.

Lens vs Freiburg Match Forecast

The teams are approaching the match in substantially different form: Lens has won three games in a row, whereas Freiburg has experienced three consecutive defeats in their domestic league. Moreover, the red and yellows rarely falter when playing with home crowd support and understand the significance of gaining a positive result on their ground before travelling to Germany.

Total Goals Forecast

Lens will attempt to secure a comfortable advantage before the return leg, and the persisting problems in the guests' defence are likely to aid their cause. I expect the hosts to net at least two goals.

Corner Forecast

Both teams average 5 corners per match - we are bound to witness open football and, at the very least, 10 taken corners.

Yellow Cards Forecast

Lens gathers 2.2 yellow cards per match, whereas the guests draw only one on average in this Europa League. Feel safe to bet on the hosts drawing at least as many cautions.

Exact Score Forecast

I'll bet on an exact score of 2:1 in favour of "Lens".