We have reached the fifth round of fixtures in the group stages of the UEFA Europa League. There are plenty of games to look forward to on Thursday night including the meeting between Nice and Bayer Leverkusen at the Allianz Riviera.
The hosts begin the match in third place on 3 points while the visitors are in second place on 9 points.
Nice come into the game having lost 3-1 at home against Dijon in Ligue 1 on the weekend. They found themselves 2-0 down before half time and fell a further goal behind in the second half before scoring a consolation goal in the 80th minute. That result means Nice have lost each of their last 4 matches in all competitions.
Two of the 4 defeats have come in the Europa League against Slavia Prague. The first was a 3-2 loss away from home and the second was a 3-1 defeat at home, with the latter result being extremely disappointing.
The only victory for Nice in the group came at home against Hapoel Be'er Sheva but that followed a heavy 6-2 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.
Trends show Nice have been conceding 3 goals on average in their Europa League games. They have lost 3 of their last 5 home fixtures in the competition, conceding a total of 10 goals in those 5 home Europa League matches.
Bayer Leverkusen come into the game having been held to a 0-0 draw at home in the Bundesliga by Hertha Berlin. That result leaves Bayer Leverkusen in 3rd place in the Bundesliga, just 3 Points adrift of the leaders Bayern Munich.
The draw with Hertha Berlin ended a run of 5 successive victories for Bayer Leverkusen in all competitions. Two of those victories came in the Europa League against Hapoel Be'er Sheva. The first of which was a 4-2 win away from home and the second a comfortable 4-1 win at the BayArena.
Trends show Bayer Leverkusen have won 7 of their last 9 Europa League matches and they have scored 3 or more goals in 5 of their last 8 Europa League games.
Over 2.5 goals have been seen in 4 of Bayer Leverkusen's last 5 away matches in the Europa League.
Looking ahead to the team news and Nice will be without Morgan Schneiderlin and Hichem Boudaoui who are both suspended. Kasper Dolberg will miss the game due to COVID-19 while Youcef Atal, Hassane Kamara, Dante are injured.
Bayer Leverkusen have a long list of players unavailable for this game including Edmond Tapsoba due to COVID-19. Lucas Alario, Karim Bellarabi, Sven Bender, Exequiel Palacios, Charles Aranguiz, Santiago Arias, and Paulinho are on the treatment table.
Both teams have players missing for this match but Bayer Leverkusen are the team in form. It would not be a surprise to see them win this game comfortably and for there to be over 2.5 goals scored in the match.