Champions strive for away success

Bayer Leverkusen will be aiming for their first Bundesliga away win since September when they meet Union Berlin at the An der Alten Försterei stadium on Saturday.

Union Berlin

Union are in 10th place having suffered four wins, four draws and three defeats in their 11 league games. The Eiserne are currently in poor form, having gone four league games without a win since beating Holstein Kiel on October 20. They drew at home against Eintracht Frankfurt and Freiburg and narrowly suffered an away defeat against Bayern Munich.

Bo Svensson’s team suffered another away defeat last Saturday when they met Wolfsburg. Ridle Baku’s 71st-minute strike was enough to condemn Union to a 1-0 defeat as they failed to trouble the scorers for the third straight Bundesliga game.

Despite suffering a period of poor results, Union still reckon they have a chance of taking something from Saturday’s game, having gone undefeated in all five home games in the league this season (W3, D2). The hosts proved to be a difficult team to beat at the An der Alten Försterei stadium and only conceded three goals in their five Bundesliga home games.

Team news

The hosts are expected to be without the services of Yannic Stein and Andrej Ilić.

Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen still has a lot to do if they want to defend their Bundesliga title. Xabi Alonso’s side are in fourth place, nine points behind league leaders Bayern Munich. They recently experienced a series of three draws in a row in the league before returning to winning ways in the home game against Heidenheim last Saturday. The Werkself showed character and fought back from a two-goal deficit to win 5-2 thanks to a hat trick from Patrik Schick and goals from Exequiel Palacios and Granit Xhaka.

They scored five more goals in Tuesday’s Champions League game against Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg. Florian Wirtz scored a brace along with goals from Álex Grimaldo and Aleix García to secure a comfortable 5-0 win, leaving Leverkusen in sixth place in the league phase.

After two consecutive home games, Leverkusen now travel to the league game against Union on Saturday. The guests are one of three teams that have not lost a Bundesliga away game this season. Although they have proven difficult to beat away from home, they have had to settle for a draw in each of their last three away league games. Therefore, they are hoping for their first away win since the 4-1 win against Hoffenheim on September 14th.

Team news

Alonso will have to do without the services of Victor Boniface, Jonas Hofmann, Amine Adli, Jeanuël Belocian and Martin Terrier.