The Bundesliga finally returns this week with the opening fixture starring last season's undefeated champions Bayer Leverkusen taking on Borussia Mönchengladbach at Borussia-Park.
This game is set to be the 108th meeting between these two sides in their history. It is Leverkusen who have the advantage in those games having won 44 to Gladbach’s 30 wins. There have also been 33 draws.
Believe it or not, Friday’s hosts haven’t beaten Leverkusen since 2019 putting the away side on a run of 9 games unbeaten against them.
However the last game they played ended in a 0-0 draw in January 2024. Will we see a similar thing again?
Coming into this game neither team has any new injury issues.
However Gladbach are expected to continue without both Borges Sanches and Jan Olschowsky who are still out with knee injuries.
Similarly Leverkusen will be without one player. That man being Ezequiel Palacios who is also suffering from a knee injury at the moment.
Borussia Mönchengladbach - Jonas Omlin, Joe Scally, Ko Itakura, Nico Elvedi, Luca Netz, Rocco Reitz, Julian Weigl, Franck Honorat, Kevin Stoger, Alassane Plea, Tim Kleindienst
Bayern Leverkusen - Lukas Hradecky, Edmond Tapsoba, Jonathan Tah, Pierre Hincapie, Jeremie Frimpong, Granit Xhaka, Robert Andrich, Alejandro Grimaldo, Florian Wirtz, Amine Adli, Victor Boniface
In Bayer Leverkusen’s historic title winning season last year it was Victor Boniface who finished as their top scorer.
In 34 appearances in all competitions last season he managed 21 goals and 10 assists. And he has started this season with a goal in the DFL-SuperCup against Stuttgart as well.
If he can continue that form into the Bundesliga season this year he is sure to be one to watch again this season.
Coming into this game it is Monchengladbach in better form. Leverkusen failed to match the form of last season in the preseason.
However Leverkusen are still the stronger of the two sides and it will be a huge surprise if they can’t take at least a point away from this game.
We would expect Leverkusen to save a draw in this one - potentially with another one of their late goals that they have so often shown they have in them.
That is why our team of professional tipping experts have selected a Draw as their best value tip in this game. At odds of 7/2, £10 has the potential to return up to £45 in this game.
This game is set to get underway on Friday 23rd August 2024 at 19:30 pm. And you can catch all the action live on Sky Sports Mix.
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