Hoffenheim's Anthony Modeste (l.) struck his second goal of the season in last weekend's win at Stuttgart and will be aiming to add to his tally on Tuesday against Freiburg...
Hoffenheim's Anthony Modeste (l.) struck his second goal of the season in last weekend's win at Stuttgart and will be aiming to add to his tally on Tuesday against Freiburg...

Hoffenheim aiming for top against Baden rivals Freiburg

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Sinsheim - The derbies come thick and fast for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim as Markus Gisdol’s men face a local rival for the second time in four days when they welcome 14th-placed SC Freiburg to the Wirsol Rhein-Neckar-Arena on Tuesday (kick-off: 18:00 GMT/ 20:00 CEST).

’Want to give our all’

Having seen off VfB Stuttgart at the weekend, Hoffenheim are one of four clubs tied on eight points at the top of the Bundesliga. “We want to get a good result in what will be a very difficult match,“ said head coach Gisdol. “Freiburg are good opponents and are really being undersold at the moment. They are well organised, flexible and versatile in attack, a really difficult side to play.”

In-form striker Anthony Modeste and Tarik Elyounoussi are likely to lead the 1899 attack at home to their Baden-Württemberg rivals, with the pair on target against Stuttgart on Saturday and now accounting for four of the Kraichgauer’s six goals in the current campaign. However, centre-back Ermin Bicakcic is sidelined through injury.

Freiburg, meanwhile, will be without the injured strikers Admir Mehmedi and Dani Schahin for their trip to Hoffenheim, but will be hoping to finally get off the mark and register their first win of the current season. “We want to give it our all and make sure we put in a good performance,” said coach Christian Streich.

Possible line-ups:

Hoffenheim: Baumann - Rudy, Süle, Strobl, Beck - Polanski, Schwegler - Elyounoussi, Roberto Firmino, Zuber - Modeste

Freiburg: Bürki - Sorg, Krmas, Kempf, Günter - Schuster, Darida - Schmid, Klaus - Philipp - Guede