Bundesliga Preview: Bayer Leverkusen vs. FC Koln
Robin Dutt’s Bayer Leverkusen will host Stale Solbakken’s struggling FC Koln in their next Bundesliga fixture and will be looking to continue their stunning form in the league this season. The match will be played on Saturday,
September 17, at the BayArena in Leverkusen.
Bayer Leverkusen
Werkself had a relatively poor start to the new season as they lost their opening match in the Bundesliga to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/1-FSV-Mainz-05-c38166 and were knocked out of the German Cup in the first round. But Dutt’s side have comeback strongly by getting
10 points from the next four games in the League and currently sit fifth on the standings table with three wins, a draw and a loss.
Leverkusen are coming from a 2-0 loss at the hands of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 at Stamford Bridge in mid-week in the UEFA Champions League but the score line does not do justice to the impressive performance the Germans put in London.
FC Koln
The Billy Goats have had a disastrous start to the current season and are sitting in 14th place with just four points from five games played. Stale Solbakken will be under huge amount of pressure as his side has already
lost three of the five games played.
Koln’s home form has also been poor as they have lost two games at the RheinEnergieStadion this season. The side’s only win came against fellow strugglers Hamburg at the Imtech Arena with a 4-3 score line.
Team News
Bayer Leverkusen
Robin Dutt is expected to include http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michael-Ballack-c25270 in the starting line-up after the German international’s impressive showing against Chelsea in the Champions League. Stefan Kiessling is expected to miss out as Eren Derdiyok will
start for the home side in the fixture.
FC Koln
Tunisian defender http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Milivoje-Novakovic-c25859 will start upfront for the visitors whereas Slawomir
Peszko will play as the attacking midfielder.
Players to watch
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sidney-Sam-c33476
The young winger was sensational in Bayer Leverkusen’s win last week against FC Augsburg. He was given a chance by the manager in a bid to rest key players for the Champions League clash against Chelsea. The German U-21 international
scored two goals to make sure his side accumulated all three points from the match and could also play a crucial role against Koln this weekend.
Lukas Podolski
The German international has been far from the player he was last season. The striker has only scored once this season and his form has been way below par. He will have to find his form this week otherwise the team could well be
in the relegation zone when the game-week ends.
Prediction
Bayer Leverkusen have been impressive this season and their form has been brilliant in the league games. Werkself have not lost any of their last nine games at the BayArena and have played some great attacking football.
On the other hand, Stake Solbakken’s side has faltered big time and are contenders for relegation at the end of the season judging from the football they have played in this campaign. It will be another easy win for the hosts and
they are expected to end with an impressive 4-1 score line.
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