Hertha BSC vs Bayer Leverkusen

Olympiastadion Berlin is the venue as Hertha BSC lock horns with Bayer Leverkusen in a potentially low-scoring Bundesliga contest. The last three top-flight meetings between these two sides have seen one or both teams fail to score in matches garnering under 2.5 FT goals.

Hertha’s Bundesliga wobble continued last weekend with a 2-0 defeat at Borussia Dortmund, as they head into this encounter having won just two of their 12 league games since the calendar flipped to 2021 (D2, L8). A lack of firepower in the attacking third has seen ‘Die Alte Dame’ draw a blank in 58.33% of their Bundesliga fixtures this calendar year. Pal Dardai cannot take much comfort from his side’s defending in the recent period either. Hertha have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last nine league matches, setting the division joint-worst ongoing run in the process. Topically, only dead-last Schalke (26) have conceded more goals in home Bundesliga games this season than Hertha (24). By contrast, they have registered a shutout in each of their previous three top-flight meetings with Bayer.

The visitors have also failed to impress in the recent period, having won just one of their last five Bundesliga outings (D2, L2), with each game won/lost in that sequence coming by a single-goal margin. Away from home, ‘Die Werkself’ have gone from three consecutive league defeats to back-to-back matches without losing (W1, D1) despite scoring under 1.5 goals on each occasion. Indeed, Peter Bosz’s men have struggled in front of goal in 2021, managing a disappointing average of 1.3 goals scored per Bundesliga game. Particularly sloppy before half-time, they have drawn a blank in the first half in each of their last four league fixtures. Curiously, though, they defend the set-pieces better than any other side in the Bundesliga, having shipped a league-low three goals from such plays this term.