On Saturday, Bayer Leverkusen travel to newly improved Bayern Munich in their first match-up of the season in what will be a blockbuster game.
According to kicker, Robert Andrich will return to Leverkusen’s midfield and partner Granit Xhaka at the Allianz Arena this weekend. The reason for this is that Die Werkself has struggled defensively in the opening rounds of the season and Andrich provides the needed defensive cover to try and mitigate a free scoring Bayern side.
The stats back this up as well, in the 412 minutes that Leverkusen have used Andrich in midfield this season they have only conceded four goals, which averages at one every 103 minutes. While without the German international, Leverkusen has conceded seven and averaged a goal conceded every 31 minutes.
Exequiel Palacios would also be an alternative to Andrich but the Argentine is still recovering from a knee operation and is not ready to start the game.
Leverkusen have yet to keep a clean sheet in the Bundesliga this season and with them coming up against a Bayern side who have scored 20 goals in the past three games, they will need all the help they can get. The positive for Leverkusen is that this Bayern side has not really been tested in their first few games of the season.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
