Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen will be looking to extend their lead at the top of the table when they travel to the WWK Arena to face Augsburg on Saturday afternoon.
While the visitors are yet to lose in any competition so far this season, the hosts have only won one of their last seven top-flight matches.
Match preview
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Augsburg were unable to enter the German winter break in high spirits as they failed to win any of their last three Bundesliga matches, although their solitary point claimed during this run was from a 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund.
Die Fuggerstadter suffered a 3-0 loss at Stuttgart in their most recent competitive match on December 20 before the mid-season interval, but they have since returned to winning ways after beating Hoffenheim 1-0 in a friendly last weekend, courtesy of a second-minute goal from Fredrik Jensen.
After narrowly avoiding relegation last season, Jess Thorup's side currently sit 11th in the Bundesliga table and eight point adrift of the relegation zone, while a victory on Saturday could see them climb into the top half if other results were to go their way.
Augsburg are sure to be aware of the challenge against an unbeaten Leverkusen outfit, but they will be quietly optimistic of success on Saturday after completing the double over Die Werkself last season, including a 1-0 home win in March last year, having failed to win any of their previous 22 meetings.
Die Fuggerstadter will welcome a return to the WWK Arena where they have accumulated 13 of their 18 Bundesliga points so far this term and have lost just two of their last 11 games in front of their own fans.
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Bayer Leverkusen are the only team across Europe's top-five leagues who are yet to taste defeat this season after winning 13 and drawing three of their 16 Bundesliga matches to accumulate a club-record 42 points at this stage, scoring 46 goals and conceding a league-low 12 goals in the process.
Die Werkself have gone from strength to strength under the tutelage of Xabi Alonso, and they ended 2023 on a memorable high as they won their final three games in all competitions by an aggregate score of 12-1, including a thumping 4-0 home win over VfL Bochum before the winter break.
Leverkusen are yet to lose in 25 competitive matches across all tournaments so far this season, a new record at the start of a campaign in German professional football; only three teams – Hamburger SV (26) in 1982, Werder Bremen (27) in 2003-04 and Bayern Munich (32) in 2020 – have ever boasted longer unbeaten runs in all competitions while competing in the Bundesliga.
Alonso's men have since kick-started the New Year with a comfortable 4-1 friendly with at home to Italian outfit Venezia last weekend. Goals from Adam Hlozek (2) and Patrik Schick helped Leverkusen race into a three-goal lead after 33 minutes, before Jonas Hofmann added a fourth shortly after half time.
Leverkusen could head into Saturday's fixture sitting just one point clear of second-placed Bayern Munich if they beat Hoffenheim on Friday, but victory over Augsburg would restore their four-point cushion over the reigning champions before locking horns with fourth-placed RB Leipzig a week later.
Team News
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Augsburg trio Raphael Framberger (knee), Tomas Koubek (elbow) and Reece Oxford (illness) all remain in the treatment room, while Iago (groin) and Frederik Winther (foot) are both doubtful and will be assessed ahead of kickoff.
Mads Pedersen is suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season last time out, so Robert Gumny could be the man forced to play at left-back, joining Felix Uduokhai, Jeffrey Gouweleeuw and Kevin Mbabu in the back four.
Ermedin Demirovic has scored eight goals in 16 Bundesliga games this season and the Bosnian is expected to operate as a shadow striker behind Phillip Tietz, who is hoping to end a six-game goal drought.
As for Leverkusen, star striker Victor Boniface was due to represent Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations, but he has been ruled out with a muscle injury and will join defender Arthur (thigh) on the sidelines.
Three African players who will be heading to the tournament in Ivory Coast are centre-back duo Edmond Tapsoba and Odilon Kossounou as well as winger Amine Adli.
Josip Stanisic and Piero Hincapie could be called upon to start in the back three with Jonathan Tah, while Schick, who scored a hat-trick on his first Bundesliga start of the season last time out, could be supported in attack by Hofmann and Florian Wirtz.
Augsburg possible starting lineup:
Dahmen; Mbabu, Gouweleeuw, Uduokhai, Gumny; Rexhbecaj, Dorsch; Jensen, Demirovic, Engels; Tietz
Bayer Leverkusen possible starting lineup:
Hradecky; Stanisic, Tah, Hincapie; Frimpong, Palacios, Xhaka, Grimaldo; Hofmann, Wirtz; Schick
We say: Augsburg 1-2 Bayer Leverkusen
Augsburg cannot be taken lightly by a Bayer Leverkusen side who lost both home and away meetings with Die Fuggerstadter last season and are missing a number of key players for this weekend's contest.
However, Alonso still has plenty of quality at his disposal to call upon and the visitors should have few problems outscoring an Augsburg outfit that has failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 19 matches.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Oliver Thomas
