VFL Bochum will take on Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga on Saturday, 9 November in a match that has significance at both ends of the table.
The hosts are yet to win a match this season and are already seven points away from safety. Another loss here will only cut them further adrift.
Bayer Leverkusen are in desperate need of the points themselves. They are seven points behind Bayern Munich and any more dropped points could see their title defence end very early.
How the bookies view it: The visitors start as big favourites
This match puts together last season's Bundesliga champions against the team currently on one point from nine matches so the bookies were always going to side with the visitors. Betfred have priced a Bayer Leverkusen win as short as 1/4 while a victory for VFL Bochum has been priced at 9/1. The draw, which would be disastrous for Leverkusen, has been priced at 11/2.
Recent head-to-head: Advantage Leverkusen
Since Bochum's promotion to the Bundesliga in 2021, these two teams have faced each other on six occasions with Bayer Leverkusen coming out on top in four of them. Last season, Xabi Alonso's men beat Bochum by an aggregate score of 9-0 across their two league fixtures but they would gladly take a 1-0 win on Saturday.
Players to watch: Leverkusen need more from Boniface
Victor Boniface is currently on six goals from nine league appearances this season and while that return isn't anything to turn your nose up at, he has gone of the boil significantly in recent weeks when his team have really needed him.
The Nigerian has failed to score in his last three appearances for the club and Leverkusen failed to win two of those matches which illustrates just how important he is to the success of the team. Boniface was particularly poor against Liverpool on Tuesday night but facing a team against Bochum provides him with the perfect opportunity to find his scoring boots again.
Bochum's miserable season so far has had a lot to do with how poor they've been defensively. They have conceded 29 goals already this season. Dieter Hecking has taken over the managerial position this week and his first job will be to tighten them up at the back. It will be interesting to see which players he puts in at the back in his first game in charge.
Predicted line-ups
Hecking will be without Myron Boadu and Bernardo for this one while Phillipp Hofmann is also touch and go. Xabi Alonso will be without Nordi Mukiele, Amine Adli and Jeanuel Belocian but he could be tempted to ring the changes after their humiliating 4-0 defeat to Liverpool on Tuesday night.
VFL Bochum: Drewes – Passlack, Ordets, Masovic, Wittek – Sissoko, Losilla – Broschinski, Miyoshi, De Wit – Hofmann
Bayer Leverkusen: Hradecky – Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie – Frimpong, Andrich, Xhaka, Grimaldo – Wirtz, Boniface, Tella
Anything else catch the eye?
Bayer Leverkusen are used to being involved in high-scoring matches in the Bundesliga while Bochum have been shipping goals for fun on almost a weekly basis so far this season. Over 3.5 goals to be scored in the match on Saturday has been priced at 8/11 by Betfred.
This German Bundesliga match between VFL Bochum and Bayer Leverkusen will be played on Nov 9, 2024 and kick off at 14:30. Check below for our tipsters best VFL Bochum vs Bayer Leverkusen prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
