Borussia Mönchengladbach has won three of their last four matches as they go into Matchday 9. This week, Bayer Leverkusen is coming to town, making the short trip up the A57 to Mönchengladbach.
Leverkusen has been exceptional and is yet to drop points at home. However, away from the BayArena, Heiko Herrlich’s side has struggled, only taking one point on their travels in their match against Schalke.
Gladbach will be looking to close the gap between themselves and RB Leipzig and Hoffenheim. With a couple of favourable results, Dieter Hecking’s side could find themselves in the top four after the weekend. Leverkusen sit in 12th place, but they could climb up to 10th if they can beat Gladbach on Saturday.
Borussia made the journey to Bremen in search of their first away win for the season. It was the perfect start for Dieter Hecking’s men when they took the lead on 27 minutes: Thorgan Hazard’s initial shot was saved by Jiri Pavlenka, but Lars Stindl produced a moment of magic to score his 3rd of the season.
On 34 minutes, Gladbach made it two when Oscar Wendt’s corner was met by former Werder Bremen defender Jannik Vestergaard, who headed home his first of the season. The win saw Gladbach climb up the standings to 5th.
Bayer Leverkusen returned from the international break at home to a Wolfsburg side that has struggled this season. They opened the scoring on 29 minutes when Lars Bender scored his first for the season from close range. Wolfsburg would level the ledger just before halftime thanks to the header from Liverpool loanee Divock Origi.
After the break, Leverkusen persisted and, just after the hour mark, they retook the lead: Wendell with the delivery and Lucas Alario in the right place at the right time to deliver his second of the game. Once again, though, Wolfsburg came back: levelling the scores on the 69th minute when Jakub Blaszczykowski was played in before finishing well past Bernd Leno.
No changes are expected from Gladbach: Ibrahima Traore made his return from injury last time out against Werder Bremen but he won’t get the start with Thorgan Hazard remaining in the starting XI on the right.
No changes are expected from Heiko Herrlich’s side on Saturday. Charles Aránguiz missed out against Wolfsburg and he will return to the matchday squad against Gladbach. However, he is likely to remain on the bench with Dominik Kohr and Lars Bender retaining their places in midfield.
Raffael is yet to hit his stride this season. He will hope to do so against Bayer Leverkusen at home. The Brazilian forward has two goals to his name which both came in a 2-0 victory over Stuttgart on Matchday five. Gladbach can’t just rely on the scoring inputs of Lars Stindl once again, though, so can Raffael get it together this weekend?
Raffael’s opposing defender will most likely be Jonathan Tah who will look to get improves Leverkusen’s poor defence. Tah has made seven appearances for Leverkusen and have only kept one clean sheet when the 21-year-old has been on the field. The Germany international needs to make an impression if he wants to keep his place in Leverkusen’s defence.
