Bundesliga Boys Are Doin’ Just Fine!

Bayer Leverkusen vs Eintracht Frankfurt

Bayer Leverkusen have made a decent start to their Bundesliga title defence.

Three wins and two draws from their first six outings, including a 1-1 draw at big-spending Bayern Munich, have left them on 11 points, just three behind joint leaders Bayern and RB Leipzig.

They have also won their opening two Champions League matches of the season – thrashing Feyenoord on Dutch soil before seeing off Milan at home.

Yet such was the benchmark set by Xabi Alonso and his players last term, any slight hiccup right now can be described as a setback and appears to be blown up more than it is.

 

Talking Points

Take, for example, their last outing.

Never mind that it was Alonso’s 100^th game in charge and a time to celebrate all he and his players have achieved in that time – most notably a German league and cup double during an unbeaten season and a run to the Europa League Final where they were finally beaten to end a remarkable 51-game unbeaten streak.

No, instead the focus was on losing a two goal advantage at home to newly promoted Holstein Kiel and the fact they had dropped points from a two-goal lead for the second time in the league this season; they lost 3-2 to Leipzig on the other occasion.

Yet that is the reality when you set the bar so high and the German champions are more than capable of ignoring the noise and creating more Bundesliga highlights against high-flying Eintracht Frankfurt.

It won’t be easy though for the 2022 Europa League winners to have some calibre of their own.

Frankfurt’s capacity to dig deep and hit back was evident in their most recent outing before the international break when the irrepressible Omar Marmoush grabbed a stoppage time equaliser to claim a draw against Bayern in a thrilling spectacle.

With eight goals to his name so far, the Egyptian has proven a thorn in the side for many a Bundesliga defence of late and, potentially, can become the latest Frankfurt player to make a name for himself on the big stage – think Luka Jović, Sébastien Haller, Randal Kolo Muani and Jay-Jay Okocha (a player who holds a special place in my heart due to his exploits at Bolton Wanderers).

All this under the management of Dino Toppmöller, son of the legendary former Leverkusen coach Klaus Toppmöller who took the club to the 2002 Champions League Final and within touching distance of their first ever German title in the same season.

That was an achievement which actually sparked the tag ‘Neverkusen’, one which stuck until Alonso’s record-breaking exploits.

Expect a warm embrace between the two managers and a warm welcome for Toppmöller before kick-off.

An exciting contest then awaits on Saturday afternoon.

 

History

Leverkusen enjoyed a league double over Frankfurt last season on their way to winning a maiden Bundesliga.

They ran out 3-0 victors at home just before Christmas when goals from Victor Boniface, Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Witrtz won the day.

It was even more convincing in May by which time they had already secured the title, although that didn’t stop them inflicting a 5-1 thrashing to make it 48 matches unbeaten in all competitions.

After Granit Xhaka and Hugo Ekitike exchanged early goals, the champions took control through Patrick Schick, Exequiel Palacios (penalty), Frimpong and Boniface.

This is a fixture which has normally gone the way of the home side in recent seasons and Frankfurt have not defeated Leverkusen on their own turf since December 2013 when Marco Russ scored the only goal of the contest.

 

Betting Tip

Eintracht Frankfurt may be two places and two points above the German champions but they have little chance of success in the BayArena according to the SBOTOP Bundesliga betting odds.

For the visitors are priced 1X2 @ 6.10 and Asian Handicap +1.25 @ 2.06.

That compares with Leverkusen 1X2 @ 1.36 and Asian Handicap -1.50 @ 2.11.

The draw is on offer @ 4.83 and, given there’s always goals when these sides meet, then it’s worth looking at Total Goals 2-3 @ 2.32, 4-6 @ 2.28 and over 3.50 @ 2.07.

Of course, that can’t stay the same forever so perhaps TotalGoals 0-1 @ 5.60 is worth a punt.

A re-run of last season’s 3-0 home success in the corresponding fixture will pay out @ 11.00 and, while I think this meeting will be closer, I still fancy the three points to go the way of the home side.

   

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