Tuesday night brings us a mouthwatering clash between 3rd placed Bayer Leverkusen and 4th placed Borussia Dortmund at the BayArena with both teams keen to hold onto their top four status in the German Bundesliga.
Following a great start to this Bundesliga campaign which saw Bayer Leverkusen put together an impressive 12-match unbeaten start to the new season which included eight wins, the hosts have since been unable to maintain their momentum in recent weeks.
Three defeats out of their last four matches overall in the German top flight has threatened to undo all of Leverkusen’s early good work following losses to Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt and Union Berlin, with only a 1-1 draw at home with Werder Bremen to show for their troubles in recent weeks.
However, despite their recent slump in form, Leverkusen have still lost only once on home turf at the BayArena in seven matches this term, winning three and drawing the other three matches, while four of their seven home matches have resulted in over 2.5 goals.
Borussia Dortmund occupy one league position below Bayer Leverkusen but are level on points with their hosts heading into this important midweek fixture at the BayArena as the visitors look to inflict further damage upon their hosts.
Dortmund themselves have only just recovered from a sticky patch of results in the Bundesliga following just one win out of a five-match sequence which came in the form of a 2-1 win away at Werder Bremen, but defeats to Koln, Stuttgart and Union Berlin had also threatened to drop Dortmund out of the top four of the division.
However, Dortmund have since rallied by recording important wins against Wolfsburg 2-0 at home and a crushing 3-1 victory away from home at fellow high-fliers, RB Leipzig, along with earning a point in a 1-1 draw at home with Mainz on the weekend.
Results away from home have also been encouraging for Dortmund who have picked up five wins out of their eight matches on their travels to date but they too have been susceptible to the odd hiccup as losses at Augsburg and Union Berlin indicate.
Four of Dortmund’s last five away matches though have also produced plenty of goals and have been over the 2.5 mark, so this looks the best option here.
Indeed, goals have featured in previous exchanges between these two clubs as each of the last five encounters have produced three goals or more and Tuesday night could see further goals scored.