Preview: Bayer Leverkusen vs. Wolfsburg - prediction, team news, lineups

Leverkusen hired Xabi Alonso as manager recently, but so far, that has failed to reinvigorate their season.

Match preview

Bayer's horrific start to the season just continues to get worse, even after the change of management, giving the ex-Real Madrid and Liverpool star his first big role as a manager.

They still occupy the Bundesliga's relegation playoff spot after 10 matches, a scarcely believable fate for a side playing Champions League football this season.

Things did start ideally for Alonso in the job, as Leverkusen beat Schalke 4-0 in his first game in charge, but he was brought crashing back down to earth with two very humbling results in the days that followed.

A 3-0 home defeat to Porto in the Champions League was followed up by a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt in the league last weekend.

That took their goals conceded tally to 31 in just their 15th fixture of the season, in which time they have won only three games.

Patrik Schick and Moussa Diaby have been nowhere near as productive in attack as they were last season, and the signing of Czech wonderkid Adam Hlozek has not had the desired effect as of yet, shown by the fact their current top scorer is wing-back Jeremie Frimpong.

An embarrassing defeat early in the season to third division side Elversberg in the DFB-Pokal meant Leverkusen had the midweek off unlike most sides in the top two divisions, but they will have been thankful for the rest and the opportunity to prepare for this encounter, as their European commitments meant they have not had a midweek break since August.

After a similarly poor start, Wolfsburg have managed to turn their fortunes around somewhat in recent weeks, unlike their upcoming opponents, as they are now unbeaten in four matches across all competitions.

The Wolves failed to win any of their first five league games and sat in the automatic relegation places for the opening months of the season.

They are still only 13th in the standings, but an extremely congested Bundesliga table means that can change very easily if Niko Kovac's side continue to pick up points.

Improving on some profligacy away from home will be a target for Kovac though, as no side in the division have scored fewer goals than Wolfsburg's two in their five games on the road.

There may be a little more fatigue in the legs for Wolfsburg too, as they battled to a 2-1 win over Eintracht Braunschweig in the cup on Tuesday with virtually a full-strength side chosen.

Bayer Leverkusen Bundesliga form:

L

D

D

L

W

L

Bayer Leverkusen form (all competitions):

D

L

L

W

L

L

Wolfsburg Bundesliga form:

L

W

L

W

D

D

Wolfsburg form (all competitions):

W

L

W

D

D

W

Team News

Alonso has made almost no changes to the starting lineup since coming in, trusting the same players which played under Gerardo Seoane.

Piero Hincapie will be suspended here though following his second yellow card just 15 minutes after he had equalised for Bayer in the 5-1 loss at Frankfurt.

That was Leverkusen's fifth red card of the season already, and a second for Ecuadorian Hincapie, who will now miss two matches.

There are also numerous injuries concerns Leverkusen are still dealing with, especially in attack, as Florian Wirtz, Karim Bellarabi, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Sardar Azmoun have missed most or all of the season so far.

Exequiel Palacios will also miss out in midfield as the Argentine has been out for six weeks with a hamstring injury.

Kovac named much of the same side in midweek for Wolfsburg's DFB-Pokal fixture that played in the league against Borussia Monchengladbach last Saturday.

Maxence Lacroix was the one regular starter who was given a rest though, so it is expected the Frenchman will come back in at centre-back to replace Sebastiaan Bornauw.

Max Kruse remains out up top as the 34-year-old recovers from a hip injury, but Jerome Roussillon may not be far from a return to the setup after an Achilles injury picked up in pre-season ruled him out for the opening months of the campaign.

Recent signing Bartol Franjic will remain sidelined with an ankle injury though, in what has been a frustrating, injury-ridden start to his Wolfsburg career since joining from Dinamo Zagreb in the summer.

Bayer Leverkusen possible starting lineup:

Hradecky; Tapsoba, Tah, Kossounou; Frimpong, Andrich, Aranguiz, Bakker; Diaby, Schick, Paulinho

Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:

Casteels; Baku, Lacroix, Van de Ven, Otavio; Wimmer, Svanberg, Arnold, Gerhardt, Kaminski; L Nmecha

We say: Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Wolfsburg

Amazingly, the side at home in this fixture have failed to win in the last 12 head-to-head's between the sides, and given Leverkusen's recent form, that looks unlikely to change.

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