There’s a first time for everything though, so Leverkusen certainly won’t be resting on their laurels, especially having won just one of their last five Bundesliga outings, although that win did come last weekend.
Bayer Leverkusen
Two sides at opposite ends of the Bundesliga spectrum meet on Saturday, with European-chasing Bayer Leverkusen playing host to lowly Augsburg – a side Leverkusen have never lost to. There’s a first time for everything though, so Leverkusen certainly won’t be resting on their laurels, especially having won just one of their last five Bundesliga outings, although that win did come last weekend. One clean sheet in the last 12 Bundesliga games has contributed to their demise and further worry will come from the fact seven of those games saw Leverkusen concede 2 goals.
Yet Gerardo Seoane’s side have managed to balance this out by having one of the division’s more dangerous attacks – only the Bundesliga’s top two have scored more than their 44 league goals ahead of this round. A notable 25 per cent of those strikes arrived inside the opening 15 minutes.
Augsburg
Despite their precarious league position, Augsburg haven’t had the same defensive issues as Leverkusen – at least on the road anyway – with only Freiburg (five) boasting more than their four Bundesliga away clean sheets this season. Yet when it comes to scoring goals, Augsburg are struggling and they have the Bundesliga’s joint-lowest away goal tally this season (six). With four of Augsburg’s last five Bundesliga games witnessing under 2.5 goals, it could be that goals here may be few and far between despite Leverkusen’s scoring exploits, yet even so don’t rule out a late one – three of those five aforementioned games saw a goal arrive beyond the 80th minute. Somewhat fittingly, so have five of the last six H2Hs.
Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick is enjoying a fine season, netting 18 Bundesliga goals so far but only four have opened the scoring. Meanwhile, Michael Gregoritsch is Augsburg’s only scorer in their last 274 minutes of Bundesliga play. Augsburg’s eight goals conceded in the opening 15 minutes is a Bundesliga high ahead of the round.