FC Augsburg will have the pleasure of visiting the intimidating BayArena on Saturday afternoon as they seek their first win of the season. Augsburg had a disappointing start to the season last weekend as they lost 4-0 against SC Freiburg which leaves them sitting in 17th place.

However, Bayer Leverkusen also suffered a defeat on the opening weekend of the season against Borussia Dortmund as they lost 1-0 in what was a crazy match with Lukáš Hrádecký managing to get himself sent off meaning Leverkusen finished the match with defender Edmond Tapsoba in goal.

Both teams will be looking for an immediate response in particular Leverkusen who have aspirations to try and play champions league football again next season while Augsburg know they need to get a win soon otherwise they could be facing a relegation battle.

Team News

Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen head coach Gerardo Seoane thankfully has no new injury concerns. Florian Wirtz, Robert Andrich, and Amine Adli are still all expected to miss out while Hrádecký will also miss out due to suspension. It means that 30-year-old Russian goalkeeper Andrey Lunev is expected to take his place.

FC Augsburg

Meanwhile, Augsburg coach Enrico Maaßen has got a long list of players who look set to miss the match. Midfielders Niklas Dorsch, Ruben Vargas, and Tobias Strobl are not likely to feature as well as Reece Oxford and winger Sarenren Bazee.

Likely Lineup

Bayer Leverkusen: Lunev, Frimpong, Tah, Tapsoba, Hincapie, Palacios, Demirbay, Diaby, Azmoun, Hlozek, Schick

FC Augsburg: Gikiewicz, Bauer, Gouweleeuw, Uduokhai, Caligiuri, Maier, Gruezo, Rexhbecaj, Iago, Hahn, Demirovic

Players to watch

Moussa Diaby(Bayer Leverkusen)

Bayer Leverkusen played horrifically last weekend as they lost to Dortmund however one player who stood out and had a good performance was talented french winger Moussa Diaby. Diaby was easily Leverkusen's best player, making chances for his teammates in particular Patrik Schick, however, he did not take any of them.

Last season Diaby managed to score 13 goals and get 12 assists putting him comfortably second in terms of goals behind Schick and first in terms of assists. But last season was not a one-off, ever since he signed from Paris Saint-German he has gradually improved with every season and now he is being linked with a big money move to either Arsenal or Newcastle in the premier league. 

André Hahn(FC Augsburg)

Augsburg had a disappointing season last year only managing to finish 14th and to make matters worse they did not have a single-player score more than 10 goals. Top scorer last season Michael Gregoritsch left the club this summer to transfer to Freiburg. It means that the responsibility for scoring goals falls to André Hahn.

Hahn has been with the club for the last four years since transferring from SV Hamburg. Although he has not managed to get into double digits when it comes to scoring goals he has not done too badly, and last season he scored five goals only four behind Gregortisch, in addition to playing 32 matches which was the most of any player in the squad.

It will be a tough ask for Hahn to try and score goals not only at the weekend but the rest of the season in particular because it does not look like Augsburg will sign a new striker. Meaning they will need him firing on all cylinders if they want to stay in the top division.

Match details

The match is of significance to both teams as Leverkusen look to keep pace with Bayern for the Bundesliga title while Augsburg will be looking for a win to give them a big confidence boost. The match will be played at the magnificent BayArena. Unfortunately the match will not be shown live in the UK, however fans will be able to watch highlights via the Bundesliga's official Youtube page.

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