Bayer Leverkusen vs. FC Köln preview: Who will prevail in derby clash?

Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen head into the weekend in fourth spot after winning seven, drawing two and losing four of their 13 league games this season. Die Werkself may be in the top-four battle, but they have failed to take anything from their last two league games. Kasper Hjulmand’s side fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat against Borussia Dortmund, before they lost 2-0 in last Saturday’s away meeting with Augsburg. 

Die Werkself looked set to fall to another loss in their midweek Champions League outing against Newcastle United until Alex Grimaldo netted an 88th-minute equaliser to rescue a 2-2 draw at the BayArena. After picking up a point in European competition, Leverkusen will now turn their focus to their final two Bundesliga games of 2025 against FC Köln and RB Leipzig. 

Leverkusen will take confidence from the fact that they have won three of their last four Bundesliga games against Köln, including a 3-0 success in their most recent home encounter in October 2023.

Team News

Leverkusen are unable to call upon Exequiel Palacios and Equi Fernández. Meanwhile, Hjulmand is hopeful that Schick will shake off the knock he picked up in the midweek draw with Newcastle. 

Predicted lineup: Flekken; Quansah, Andrich, Tapsoba; Hofmann, Maza, García, Grimaldo; Tillman, Poku, Kofane

FC Köln

FC Köln have failed to win any of their last four matches since they beat nine-man Hamburger SV 4-1 at the start of November. Die Geißböcke followed that result with back-to-back losses to Mönchengladbach and Eintracht Frankfurt, before they played out consecutive 1-1 draws with Werder Bremen and St. Pauli. Lukas Kwasniok’s side looked set to take all three points off St. Pauli last weekend, only to see Said El Mala’s 51st-minute opener cancelled out by Ricky-Jade Jones’s 94th-minute equaliser.

They will be desperate to bounce back with a win in Saturday’s derby fixture, but that will be easier said than done for a club that have won just one of their previous six Bundesliga away matches (D2, L3). They have also failed to score more than one goal in any of their last five road trips since being involved in an entertaining 3-3 draw with Wolfsburg in September.

Köln at least managed to score a couple of goals in their most recent visit to the BayArena in February. However, that DFB-Pokal meeting ended in disappointment, as they gave up a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 after extra time in the quarter-final tie. 

Team News

The visitors remain without the services of Timo Hübers, Dominique Heintz, Joël Schmied, Luca Kilian and Malek El Mala due to injury. 

Predicted lineup: Schwäbe; Sebulonsen, Martel, Van den Berg; Thielmann, Jóhannesson, Krauß, Kamiński; Waldschmidt, S El Mala; Bülter