Bayer Leverkusen vs. Hoffenheim preview: Champions looking to close gap to Bayern | OneFootball

Bayer Leverkusen

Xabi Alonso’s side are sitting in second place after winning 12, drawing six and losing one of their 19 league matches. Die Werkself enjoyed a run of eight consecutive Bundesliga victories until they were held to a 2-2 draw in last Saturday’s away meeting with RB Leipzig. Leverkusen appeared to be heading towards all three points when Patrik Schick and Aleix García grabbed a goal apiece to establish a two-goal lead. However, David Raum pulled a goal back in the 41st minute, before a late Edmond Tapsoba own goal ensured the spoils were shared.

Leverkusen managed to return to winning ways in Wednesday’s Champions League clash against Sparta Prague, with Florian Wirtz and Nathan Tella grabbing a goal apiece to fire their side to a 2-0 home victory. Crucially, that result secured Leverkusen a top-eight finish in the league phase, ensuring they advance straight to the last 16.

After recording a ninth straight home victory in all competitions, Leverkusen will be looking to produce another strong home performance in Sunday’s fixture, especially as they are now nine points adrift of the Bundesliga summit following Bayern’s 4-3 win over Holstein Kiel on Saturday. Die Werkself will fancy their chances of reducing the gap to six points, having won each of their four meetings with Hoffenheim, including a dominant 4-1 win in September’s reverse fixture.

Team News

Jeanuël Belocian and Martin Terrier are ruled out with knee and Achilles injuries respectively. Meanwhile, Robert Andrich will serve a one-match suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the Bundesliga season.

Hoffenheim

Hoffenheim have taken four points from two league matches after experiencing a run of three consecutive league defeats. Christian Ilzer’s side recorded a 3-1 away victory over Holstein Kiel, before they played out a 2-2 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend. Gift Orban scored after the hour mark to level the scoreline at one goal apiece, before Adam Hložek netted a 95th-minute equaliser to cancel out Hugo Ekitike and Frankfurt’s second goal of the contest.

Hoffenheim were then involved in a seven-goal thriller in Thursday’s Europa League meeting with Anderlecht in Belgium. The Bundesliga side came from behind to establish a 4-1 lead thanks to an own goal and efforts from Tom Bischof, David Mokwa and Hložek. Anderlecht managed to score two late goals, but Hoffenheim ultimately held on to claim a narrow 4-3 victory. Unfortunately for Hoffenheim, the win counted for very little as they finished the league in 27th position, bringing an end to their European obligations for the 2024-25 campaign.

They will now turn their focus to Sunday’s Bundesliga fixture, with the visitors looking to extend their four-point cushion to the bottom three. After beating Kiel in their most recent Bundesliga road trip, Hoffenheim now have the chance to record back-to-back away league victories for the first time since October 2023. However, they have not beaten Leverkusen since clinching a 3-0 victory in August 2022.

Team News

Valentin Gendrey recently joined Hoffenheim’s lengthy injury list which includes Oliver Baumann, Christopher Lenz, Diadié Samassékou and Umut Tohumcu. The visitors are also without the services of Ozan Kabak, Haris Tabaković, Ihlas Bebou and Grischa Prömel. Meanwhile, there are doubts surrounding the availability of Pavel Kadeřábek, Stanley Nsoki and Andrej Kramarić.