Bayer Leverkusen vs. Darmstadt preview: Die Werkself aiming to maintain 100% start
Bayer Leverkusen will attempt to make it three wins in three Bundesliga games when they face Darmstadt on Saturday.
Bayer Leverkusen
Leverkusen have made an impressive start to the Bundesliga campaign, with Xabi Alonso’s side dreaming of mounting a title push. After getting the better of RB Leipzig in the five-goal thriller, Leverkusen cruised to all three points in their derby meeting with Gladbach last weekend. Summer addition Victor Boniface scored either side of a Jonathan Tah effort to guide die Werkself to a 3-0 victory, ensuring they are one of five teams to have won their opening two games of the Bundesliga season.
They will now return home to the Bayer Arena, where they have won five of their last seven matches (D1, L1). Impressively, they have scored 11 goals across those five home victories, and they will be looking to showcase their firepower once again when they face a Darmstadt side that have conceded eight goals across their opening three competitive games
Team News
Piero Hincapié, Patrik Schick and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are all ruled out through injury, while Amine Adli is suspended.
Darmstadt
Darmstadt are still searching for their first points since returning to the top flight after beginning their Bundesliga campaign with consecutive defeats to Eintracht Frankfurt and Union Berlin. Die Lilien competed valiantly in the 1-0 loss to Frankfurt, but they were unable to produce another battling display in their home meeting with Union.
Despite playing around 70 minutes against 10 men, following Brenden Aaronson’s dismissal, Darmstadt were swept aside by a 4-1 scoreline, leaving them in 17th place after the first two matchdays.
They will now turn their attention to their first encounter with Leverkusen since April 2017. Having lost their last three head-to-head meetings, Darmstadt are looking to claim their first victory since winning 1-0 at the Bay Arena in September 2015.
Team News
The visitors are unable to call upon the services of Alexander Brunst and Fraser Hornby. There are also doubts over the availability of Mathias Honsak and Christoph Zimmermann.