In a week which has saw Pep Guardiola’s move to Manchester City at the end of the season confirmed, Bayer Leverkusen will be looking to conflict further upset within the Bayern Munich camp.
A lot on the line
Roger Schmidt’s men currently sit in fourth place just three points behind surprise package, Hertha BSC, Die Werkself will want to do all that is possible to leap frog Hertha with an automatic Champions League place up for grabs.
However, there is no easy task in their way. The reigning champions and current league leaders, Bayern Munich will not move aside for any team and will be hopeful of creating an 11 point gap between them and Borussia Dortmund.
Schmidt’s men will be without their captain and key midfielder, Lars Bender, who is still nursing an ankle injury he picked up in late October 2015. However Bayer will forever be the optimist with news that Jerome Boateng is set to miss a large chunk of the season, and Javier Hernandez in fine form Schmidt’s men will be looking to advantage of Bayern’s loss.
Do Kießling and Hernandez hold the key?
The Chicharito and Stefan Kießling partnership has started to blossom over recent weeks, with both strikers netting in the most recent 3-0 victory over Hannover 96.
The partnership is the perfect, ‘big man, little man’ duo. Kießling is no stranger to hard work and chasing around defenders for 90 minutes, with Chicharito proving to be one of the most clinical strikers in world football at the moment, with 21 goals in all competitions.
Though everything seems to be on the up at Leverkusen, Bayern Munich have been destroying opposition all season and will see Bayer as nothing more than another team in their way of winning another Bundesliga championship.
It appears it will be a battle of the frontmen, Robert Lewandowski, who like Hernandez is in unstoppable form has netted 27 times so far this season, with 19 of those goals coming in the league. He will surely want to reach that 20 league goals mark this weekend so Bernd Leno, must be on top form if Bayer are to come out on top.
With all that said, it is all setup for a thrilling game at the BayArena, and it is most definitely not one to miss.