Bundesliga: Bayer Leverkusen vs. Eintracht Frankfurt Preview, Odds, Prediction

The big derby of Bundesliga’s round 32 takes place in Leverkusen on Monday night when Bayer hosts Eintracht Frankfurt. While the hosts need to win and stay among the top four places, which lead to the UEFA Champions League, the guests are coming to Bay Arena thinking of next Thursday, once they host West Ham in the second leg of the Europa League semifinals. These two sides are major names in German football, so it’s no wonder that the attention surrounding this event is high.

Preview

Bayer Leverkusen (-240) has the UCL spot in their pocket and just needs to hold on until the end of the season to confirm it. After playing 0-0 in Bochum and losing at home to RB Leipzig, they bounced back in Greuther Firth, where they rolled over the hosts, 1-4.

Even though Firth took the lead early, Bayer was all over them, flipping the result in no time. It was only the second game in the last seven with over 2.5 goals.

At home, in Leverkusen, things aren’t good for Gerardo Seoane’s crew which lost three of the past four over the last few weeks across all competitions. In all three defeats, Bayer couldn’t score a goal, and four of the past five events were with only one side netting.

Eintracht Frankfurt (+600) comes into this matchup flying high on morale, following a victory in London against West Ham, in the semis of the UEFA Europa League, 1-2. It is a big deal for the Eagles, who reached the same stage a few years ago but suffered an elimination to Chelsea back then.

Unlike Bayer, Eintracht has played efficient games lately. Four of the past five were with over 2.5 goals. Two of the past nine were with just one side netting, meaning that this unit both scores and concedes.

We already wrote about this unit, suggesting that they have a furious counter-attack, which is their biggest strength. Overall, they aren’t some rough team, but physically very well prepared, with a few creative players, Filip Kostic standing above all.

Latest News

The hosts have several doubtful players for this event. Sertdemir, Bellarabi, Fosu-Mensah and Frimpong are questionable. Meanwhile, Wirtz, Hincapie, and Adi are all ruled out.

The situation with the guests is unclear, but we are more than sure that their head coach Oliver Glasner intends to leave all of his important players on the bench. His team has no interest in playing with 100% here.

Head to Head Games

The first meeting of the year saw fireworks in Frankfurt, with the hosts winning 5-2 in one of their best games of the year. Nine of their last events saw over 2.5 goals, and the past four were with both teams netting.

Prediction

Even though the odds aren’t that high, betting on Lever is pretty safe here. They are hosting a team that comes to play with a mixed lineup (possibly some of the replacements from the youth squad) and has no competitive motive to win. For some -240 might sound low, but be sure that it isn’t at all. Especially when there is no risk at all.

Pick: Bayer Leverkusen wins

More previews for this weekend’s games.

• West Ham vs. Arsenal
• Newcastle vs. Liverpool