Bayer Leverkusen vs Freiburg

Bayer Leverkusen’s resurgent title-defending Bundesliga campaign faces a potential banana skin as top-four hopefuls Freiburg roll into the BayArena this weekend. 

Bayer Leverkusen took advantage of Bayern Munich’s slump at Mainz to reduce the gap between them to four points with a 2-0 win at Augsburg. In addition to extending their winning run in all competitions to seven matches, Xabi Alonso’s resurgent team posted a third clean sheet in their last four competitive outings! Now back at the BayArena, where they’ve won four games on the trot since a scoreless draw against Stuttgart in early November, ‘Die Werkself’ seek a third consecutive victory against Freiburg. They’ve been remarkable at home since losing to RB Leipzig in late August, going unbeaten in ten successive games here (W8, D2), but there’s still ample room for improvement. Indeed, Leverkusen’s league-high 86% Bundesliga fixtures this season saw both teams score, emphasizing their defensive woes.

Visiting Freiburg can harm Leverkusen’s porous backline, yet they’ve drawn a blank on three of their seven Bundesliga travels in 2024/25, netting a meager average of 0.85 goals per away game! Furthermore, the visitors’s last four league matches on the road have fluctuated between draws (2) and defeats (2), casting doubt on their bid to beat ‘Die Werkself’ at the BayArena for the third time since 2021 (W2, L2). Interestingly, those four meetings all featured over 2.5 goals and both teams scoring, highlighting the potential for a high-scoring contest. Julian Schuster’s side could be on the receiving end of another goal fest after slipping to multi-goal margin losses to Leipzig (3-1) and Borussia Dortmund (4-0) during the abovementioned winless away run.