Bundesliga: BVB Test for Leverkusen’s Title Credentials

Borussia Dortmund vs Bayer Leverkusen

Christmas 2024 has come and gone, and the New Year festivities have just about died down in Germany, so it’s time for football again and, on Friday, we start with an absolute belter as Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund vs Bayer Leverkusen is the weekend curtain-raiser.

Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen made a sketchy start to their title defence but a five match winning run in the league, climaxing with a pre-holiday 5-1 drubbing of SC Freiburg, took them to within four points of leaders Bayern Munich and a win for Bayer on Friday would crank up the pressure on the Bavarians.    

Dortmund have had a mixed first half of the campaign too, and are a little off the pace, but they went into the break with a 3-1 win away to Wolfsburg and manager Nuri Sahin will be targeting an improvement on last season’s fifth placed finish. A home win would take BVB into the top four so this is a huge game for both sides; and the Borussia Dortmund vs Bayer Leverkusen betting odds tell us they each have a decent chance.  

 

Talking Points

Gittens is BVBs’s latest gem 

Two wins and three draws from the last five games has lifted Dortmund up to sixth in the league table and just two points behind the Champions League places, and Sahin’s side is starting to take shape. And, as ever, Die Schwarzgelben have a young star on their hands who is ripping up the Bundesliga. Following in the footsteps of Jadon Sancho, Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham, who all cut their teeth at the Signal Iduna Park, 20 year old England U21 winger Jamie Gittens is earning rave reviews with some spectacular performances and five league goals.

In his two seasons as a senior player at the club the BVB academy product has become a key player in the Dortmund creative unit, making 60 appearances; and, alongside Julian Brandt and Karim Adeyemi he provides a goal threat as well as ammunition for strikers Serhou Guirassy and Donyell Malen. 

There is some doubt over the immediate future of Malen though, with Premier League Europe chasers Aston Villa enquiring over his availability; and the latest news from Dortmund is that talks have opened and the club will be willing to listen to offers in the region of 20m Euros.

But there is little doubt that midfielder Pascal Gross will be out for this game after he picked up a red card in the win over Wolfsburg.

 

Schick steps forward for Bayer

Alonso’s 2024 title winners have clicked at the right time and, if they can go on an unbeaten run now they will have every chance of pushing Vincent Kompany’s Bayern all the way. Die Werkself have scored 37 goals and only Bayern, with 47 have scored more in the league. But Bayer’s tally could arguably have been higher if striker Victor Boniface had not suffered a thigh injury, over two months ago, in action for Nigeria in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers. And now it seems the 24 year old has had a setback and Leverkusen will have to wait a few more weeks. Step forward Czech hit man Patrick Schick who scored four in the destruction of Freiburg and has nine goals for the season; and who got the fifth? Florian Wirtz, one of the hottest properties in world football rounded off the rout.  

 

History

With 25 wins to 22 Die Schwarzgelben are slightly in front in the head to heads and the last two meetings both ended in a 1-1 draw. The two teams have had some superb tussles in the past but, right now, recent form favours Die Werkself. While the hosts have won two, drawn three and lost one of the last six games, Bayer have won all six.   

By the way, Dortmund’s home record is superb with six wins and two draws and Die Werkself have been consistently strong away from home with four wins and three draws. This promises to be a fascinating clash.  

 

Betting Tip

The other teams in the top six will be watching the Borussia Dortmund vs Bayer Leverkusen updates with keen interest on Friday night before their teams join the action over the weekend. I suspect all but Bayern fans will be hoping for an away victory and Bayer are favourites to win this opener at SBOTOP odds of 2.30. There’s not a lot in it with BVB at odds of 2.52 and the draw is priced at 3.35. Another 1-1 draw is the most likely outcome at a price of 6.66, while a 2-1 win to Bayer is available at 8.68 and I expect one of those will be very near the mark.

   

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