Mainz – Bayer Leverkusen
Bundesliga Round 6
Mainz, September 30, 15:30 CET
Bayer Leverkusen is no longer hiding their championship winning ambitions in the Bundesliga, and it will have an excellent test of their quality when visiting Mainz on Saturday.
The team, which currently shares the top of the table with the champions Bayern Munich, against Mainz plans to attack the opponent from the start, counting first of all on the problems these rivals has in defense.
Mainz is currently in the last 18th place in the Bundesliga table with only one point won after five matches. This team has already conceded 14 goals and has one of the worst defenses in the German elite. In as many as four games this season in the Bundesliga, the Mainz team conceded at least two goals.
On the other hand, in the matches played since August 5, i.e. in nine games, the Bayer Leverkusen team scored at least two goals in each of those duels, and only once less than three goals! This is best evidenced by how good attacking form the team is in, which deservedly shared the first place in the German championship.
In the previous round, Bayer routinely beat Heidenheim 4:1 at their stadium, and the result could easily have been more convincing. On the road to Munich against Bayern, in mid-September, an important test of quality was passed in a 2:2 draw.
Mainz has the quality to at least score a goal against this rival, and an epilogue with at least three goals in this match is certain, because Bayer plays equally well away from home.
Great news for the Leverkusen team is that Czech forward Schick is close to recovering from injury. Even without him, the team was extremely efficient in the previous period. They will not count on Dutch defender Fosu-Mensah due to a knee injury, as well as Brazilian defender Arthur.
Mainz, on the other hand, will not be able to count on as many as six injured players (Burkardt, Hanche-Olsen, Leitsch, Mwene, Weiper, Widmer) – and their injuries are largely the reason for the team's poor performances since the start of the season.
Last season, Bayer won this away game 3:0, in a match played at the end of August last year. Mainz then achieved a great away victory in February (3:2). Most often, it is about duels with a large number of goals.
The Leverkusen team managed to win four times in their last five visits to Mainz. However, a more likely outcome and a safer bet than the triumph of the favorites is to expect a match with a certain three, and possibly even four goals, on Saturday in the afternoon Bundesliga matches.
The Nigerian Boniface is the main lever in the attack for the Bayer team, he already has six goals and two assists in the Bundesliga this season - but the Mainz team will not be able to focus the defense primarily on him. Bayer's strength is team play, and players like midfielders Hoffman and Palacios have already shown that they are a big threat to the opponent's goal.