1.FC Köln - Bayer Leverkusen: Rhein Derby takes centre stage

The Rhein Derby resumes on Saturday afternoon as Bayer Leverkusen travel to close neighbours 1.FC Köln in a bid for eight Bundesliga wins in a row.

After an impressive hinrunde with wins over Hertha Berlin, Schalke 04 and on the opening day, Borussia Dortmund, Leverkusen were knocked out of the Champions League on penalties. Just three weeks later the Bundesliga side were knocked out of the DFB-Pokal in similar fashion, losing to Bayern Munich on penalties.

“Everything’s set up for a really good game of football,”

- Roger Schmidt

“It’s an important game for us and our fans. In football you live from one derby to the next. We won the last one so we’ve had a good time," added the Leverkusen manager.

The 48-year old has turned the club’s fortunes around after taking over from Sascha Lewandowski in July. Leverkusen currently find themselves third in the Bundesliga, ahead of Borussia Mönchengladbach on goal difference.

Leverkusen’s last defeat came in February against VfL Wolfsburg, and have since gone on to earn wins against VfB Stuttgart, Hamburger SV, and last time out against Hannover 96 – which resulted in the sacking of Tayfun Korkut.

With just five Bundesliga matches remaining, Köln will be looking to continue their fine home form, conceding just six goals at the RheinEnergie Stadion in 2015, remaining unbeaten since their loss against FC Augsburg in December.

"We have an opportunity to continue our strong form at home. We have an opportunity here to take another major step towards achieving our goal,” Peter Stöger told the club’s website. “We have not lost a single match at home in the Rückrunde so we want to keep that streak going.”

Last time out, Leverkusen defeated their rivals 5-1, with braces coming from Karim Bellarabi and Josip Drmic, with Hakan Calhanoglu also finding the net after Köln captain Matthias Lehmann put his side up after four minutes.

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Schmidt was full of praise for Köln in his press conference: “With Köln you never felt they were seriously in danger of going down. That is very important. They look very solid and consistently pick up points.”

Köln currently find themselves sitting in mid-table, just eight points behind a Europa League position, but also seven points ahead of SC Paderborn who occupy the relegation playoff spot with five games remaining.

Key Players

Anthony Ujah joined Köln on a permanent deal in 2013 after impressing during a loan spell from 1.FSV Mainz 05. The 24-year old has found the net on 10 occasions in the league this season, and was instrumental in Effzeh’s promotion campaign last year.

Leverkusen’s key man, Bellarabi, has surprised many this year, following his loan spell at Eintracht Braunschweig last season. The 25-year old made his debut for the German national team in 2014, and has since gone on to appear for die Mannschaft on five occasions. The forward has netted 11 Bundesliga goals in 28 games for Leverkusen this season.

Team News

“It’s a great shame. Gonzalo was on absolute top form,” said Schmidt.

Loan signing, Deyverson will miss out whilst Pawel Olkowski has been ruled out for the season. Daniel Halfar, Marcel Risse and Slawomir Peszko are all expected to return to the squad after missing last weekend’s 0-0 draw against Hertha Berlin.

Leverkusen have almost a fully fit squad to choose from, with just Gonzalo Castro and Robbie Kruse out on the sidelines through injury.