Preview: Heidenheim vs Bayer Leverkusen | OneFootball

Bayer Leverkusen are once again looking to keep their hopes alive of winning the Bundesliga as they travel to relegation threatened Heidenheim on Saturday.

Heidenheim are currently sat in 16th place and occupy the relegation play off place with 22 points.

Last week they were able to secure an important victory against Wolfsburg in which they won 1-0.

Frank Schmidt’s side will be growing in belief as they now have two consecutive victories in the Bundesliga.

They are now just three points behind 15th placed St Pauli who host Borussia Monchengladbach on Sunday but they are also just two points ahead of 17th placed Bochum who host Stuttgart on Saturday.

Leverkusen were able to comfortably beat Bochum last week and remain just six points behind the league leaders Bayern Munich.

However on Wednesday, Xabi Alonso’s side missed out on reaching the DFB-Pokal final as they suffered a shocking 2-1 defeat against third tier side Arminia Bielefield.

It is now four losses in the last six matches for Leverkusen and defensive solidity must be improved as they are seven games without a clean sheet and have conceded 13 goals in their last six matches.

Team News

Midfielders Julian Niehues and Thomas Leon Keller will be missing from the Heidenheim team, meaning Niklas Dorsch and Jan Schoppner could start together.

In attack, Budu Zivzivadze and Mathias Honsak are unavailable, meaning Adrian Beck could start in an advanced role behind Marvin Pieringer and Maximilian Breunig.

As for Leverkusen, they are still dealing with a number of injuries.

Defenders Edmond Tapsoba, Jeanuel Belocian and Mario Hermoso are set to miss out therefore Nordi Mukiele, Jonathan Tah and Piero Hincapie are likely to start in a back three.

Florian Wirtz is close to a full recovery, but a front line of Aleix Garcia, Patrik Schick and Amine Adli is expected.

GGFN | Matthew Gritton