After losing 1-0 away to Union Berlin, Darmstadt remain stuck to the bottom of the Bundesliga standings with a dire 12-game Bundesliga winless run in tow (D4, L8). The hosts’ keeper Marcel Schuhen had to be given immense credit in that game after being beaten by only one of Union’s 19 goal attempts, and he boldly asserted the team’s belief in their ability to stay afloat this season despite their current woes.
Darmstadt must bottle that optimism if they’re to pull off an unlikely escape as they enter this round six points from 15th. Pulling off any huge shocks against league leaders Bayer Leverkusen is unlikely at the best of times, a point illustrated not only by the visitors’ ruthless league record but also by the fact that Darmstadt have lost six of their seven Bundesliga H2H encounters (W1), including a humbling 5-1 defeat in the reverse.
Rocked by speculation linking Xabi Alonso with the soon-to-be vacant Liverpool job, Bayer Leverkusen dropped points for the fourth time this Bundesliga season with a 0-0 draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach last weekend (W15, D4). Even so, the Eternal Bridesmaids remain on course to become the bride with a two-point buffer at the top of the table, one which they can at least retain if they can extend their 28-game competitive unbeaten start to the campaign with a victory.
Only once in Bayer Leverkusen’s history have they began a season with 28 straight games without defeat, and that was ended at the 29th attempt back in 1979. But they should be immensely confident of avoiding an unwanted repeat of that history, especially as their nine Bundesliga away trips this season saw them drop points only to fellow high-flying clubs Bayern (2-2) and Stuttgart (1-1).
Players to watch: Julian Justvan scored his first ever Bundesliga goal in Darmstadt’s recent draw against Frankfurt, with each of his last six goalscoring appearances seeing both teams score. Alejandro Grimaldo could provide an outlet for Bayer Leverkusen after assisting four times in his last four appearances, whilst four of his last five goalscoring outings saw him net the decisive goal.
Hot stat: Bayer Leverkusen posted winning margins of at least three goals in all five of their games against sides beginning this round in the bottom five.
