Cologne vs Bayer Leverkusen

RheinEnergieStadion is the venue as relegation-threatened Cologne and runaway leaders Bayer Leverkusen meet in a lopsided Bundesliga contest.

Cologne’s troubled Bundesliga campaign took another tumble last weekend as a 1-1 draw at Stuttgart condemned them to a dreaded place in the bottom three, eight points off safety. The out-of-sorts Billy Goats come into proceedings amidst a rough patch, having won just one of their last ten league outings (D5, L4). Defying that underwhelming run against a side sitting a staggering 44 points above them in the standings looks unlikely, especially considering they’ve won none of the last three top-flight H2Hs they’ve hosted (D1, L2). Timo Schultz’s men slipped to a 3-0 defeat in the reverse fixture in October, suggesting damage limitation will be their number-one target. Adding to this sentiment, they’ve lost without scoring five out of six league encounters against sides beginning the round in the top five (D1).

In stark contrast to Cologne’s disheartening campaign, Bayer Leverkusen’s fairytale continued with last weekend’s 2-1 home win against Mainz 05, cementing their place at the top of the Bundesliga. To say ‘Die Werkself’ will take the field in a buoyant mood would be an understatement, as they come into this round amid the German-record 33-game unbeaten streak in all competitions. Leverkusen’s away form looks even more impressive, with Xabi Alonso’s high-flyers racking up nine victories from their 11 Bundesliga travels this season (D2). Since their victories against the other two sides occupying the bottom three came 2+ goals ‘to nil,’ another dominant showing could be on the cards. Alonso will accept nothing less as his team could stretch their lead on second-placed Bayern Munich to ten points with a win.