Bayer Leverkusen vs. Stuttgart preview: Champions looking to extend unbeaten run

Bayer Leverkusen will look to extend their unbeaten streak to 11 competitive matches when they play host to Stuttgart on Friday.

Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen are sitting in third place after winning four, drawing three and losing one of their eight league games this season. Die Werkself have gone two months without defeat, but they will be frustrated with the fact they have drawn three of their last four Bundesliga matches. They drew with Bayern Munich and Holstein Kiel, before they claimed a narrow 2-1 home victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.

Xabi Alonso’s side looked set to clinch another 2-1 victory in last Saturday’s clash with Werder Bremen. A Victor Boniface effort and a Felix Agu own goal put Leverkusen in a winning position, only for Roman Schmid to deny them all three points with a dramatic 90th-minute equaliser. As a result, Leverkusen dropped two crucial points, leaving them five points adrift of Bayern and RB Leipzig.

Leverkusen had no problems in a sealing a win in Tuesday’s DFB-Pokal meeting with Elversberg. Patrik Schick netted a brace before Aleix García scored a stunning free-kick to secure a 3-0 victory against the 2.Bundesliga side. Die Werkself will now turn their focus to their second meeting with Stuttgart this season after previously beating them on penalties to clinch the DFL-Supercup in August. That result extended their unbeaten run against Stuttgart to 13 matches in all competitions.

Team News

Alonso is unable to call upon Jeanuel Belocian and Amine Adli due to leg and ankle injuries respectively.

Stuttgart

Stuttgart are three points behind Leverkusen in eighth place after winning three, drawing three and losing two of their eight Bundesliga matches. Die Schwaben may be sitting outside the European places, but they will head into Friday’s contest in a positive mood after recording three consecutive victories in all competitions. Sebastian Hoeneß’s side kicked off that winning run with a dramatic 1-0 win over Juventus in the Champions League. 

They then claimed a narrow 2-1 home league victory against Holstein Kiel, before they repeated that scoreline in Tuesday’s Pokal clash with Kaiserslautern. Nick Woltemade saw his opener cancelled out by Kaiserslautern’s Boris Tomiak, ensuring the two sides went into the break on level terms. However, Chris Führich proved to be Stuttgart’s hero, netting a 75th-minute winner to send his side into the net round.

After competing in back-to-back home matches, Die Schwaben will now head on their travels for Friday’s difficult league fixture. The visitors have found away league wins hard to come by this season, having won just one of their four Bundesliga away matches (D1, L2). If they are to claim maximum points on Friday, Stuttgart will have to beat Leverkusen for the first time since recording a 1-0 away win in April 2018.

Team News

The visitors are expected to be without Yannik Keitel, Luca Raimund and Dan-Axel Zagadou. Meanwhile, Jeff Chabot will serve a one-match ban after being sent off last weekend.