In the second round of the DFB-Pokal, Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen are set to host 2. Bundesliga club Elversberg on Tuesday at BayArena.
The home team won the DFB-Pokal last term and are currently third in the league with 15 points from eight matches, while the visitors beat Borussia Hildesheim 7-0 in the previous round of Tuesday's competition in August and are seventh in the second tier with 16 points after 10 matchweeks.
Match preview
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Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen beat Kaiserslautern 1-0 in the final of last season's cup tournament in late May, and in doing so they completed their 2023-24 domestic campaign unbeaten.
This term, Alonso's side began their DFB-Pokal campaign in August and beat Carl Zeiss Jena 1-0 thanks to a 52nd-minute goal from Jonas Hofmann.
In their last outing, Leverkusen drew 2-2 with Werder Bremen, a match in which Die Schwarzroten conceded a 90th-minute equaliser.
Alonso said in the aftermath of the draw that his team dropped points as a result of weak defending, something that has plagued their 2024-25 season so far considering they have kept just three clean sheets in their 13 games this term.
The Bundesliga champions have drawn four of their six most recent fixtures, winning twice while scoring nine times and conceding on seven occasions.
Leverkusen have won three of their last four home matches by a cumulative score of 9-6, and the home side have also won their last three games in the DFB-Pokal at BayArena.
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Meanwhile, Elversberg are four points from first-placed Fortuna Dusseldorf and just three from second-placed Paderborn, who occupy the division's final automatic promotion spot.
Manager Horst Steffen will be pleased with the progress his side have made considering they are averaging 1.6 points per game in the 2. Bundesliga, a sizeable increase on their 2023-24 average of 1.26 points per game.
Steffen's team beat Hamburger SV 4-2 in the league in their most recent outing on Saturday despite initially trailing after just six minutes.
Elversberg come into the clash unbeaten in their last four games, winning three and drawing one while scoring 10 goals and conceding three times.
The visitors are also unbeaten in their four most recent away fixtures, and they won their only match on the road in the DFB-Pokal against Borussia Hildesheim.
Team News
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Alonso's side will be without Amine Adli, who is unavailable due to a broken leg that he suffered against Brest in the Champions League on October 23.
In the forward's absence, Jonas Hofmann and Francis Onyeka could feature in attacking roles behind striker Patrik Schick.
Leverkusen may field a back three of Arthur, Jonathan Tah and Edmond Tapsoba behind a double pivot of Aleix Garcia and Robert Andrich.
The visitors have more injury concerns than their hosts and will be unable to select centre-backs Frederik Jakel and Florian Le Joncour until early November.
Midfielders Patryk Dragon and Semih Sahin are also expected to miss out, so Elversberg may choose a midfield three consisting of Robin Fellhauer, Carlo Sickinger and Muhammed Damar.
Elsewhere, Arne Sicker may start in an attacking role behind strikers Luca Schnellbacher and Lukas Petkov given Fisnik Asllani was forced off against Hamburger SV.
Bayer Leverkusen possible starting lineup:
Kovar; Arthur, Tah, Tapsoba; Tella, Garcia, Andrich, Belocian; Hofmann, Onyeka; Schick
Elversberg possible starting lineup:
Kristof; Baum, Pinckert, Rohr, Neubauer; Fellhauer, Sickinger, Damar; Sicker; Schnellbacher, Petkov
We say: Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 Elversberg
While Bayer Leverkusen could concede on Tuesday given their poor defensive record of late, it is difficult to see how Elversberg can topple the Bundesliga champions.
The hosts are still formidable from an offensive perspective, and even if the visitors were to defend deep in their own half, it would not be surprising if Alonso's side won by multiple goals.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Lewis Nolan
