Bayer Leverkusen will be aiming to bounce back from their recent Europa League semi-final exit by defeating Borussia Monchengladbach at the BayArena on Sunday.
The visitors, meanwhile, have only won once on the road in the Bundesliga all season, as they look set to finish in the bottom half of the table for the second successive campaign.
Match preview
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Leverkusen's hopes of lifting their first European trophy since 1988 came to an end after failing to find any breakthrough against Jose Mourinho's Roma, who triumphed 1-0 on aggregate on Thursday evening.
After losing 1-0 at Stadio Olimpico last week, Die Werkself completely dominated the second leg from start to finish, generating 23 shots compared to Roma's one. However, in trademark Mourinho fashion, I Giallorossi stood firm to reach their second consecutive European final under the Portuguese manager.
Xabi Alonso, who of course played under Mourinho during his time at Real Madrid, will have learned plenty from the encounter and will undoubtedly reflect on a hugely positive first season at Leverkusen once the dust has settled. After all, the club was in the relegation zone at the time of his appointment last October.
In the meantime, Leverkusen find themselves in a battle with Wolfsburg to guarantee themselves European football for next season by finishing sixth, so every point matters to them in their final two games.
Whether that position proves enough to qualify for the Europa League or the Europa Conference League will depend on whether Eintracht Frankfurt defeat RB Leipzig in next month's DFB-Pokal final, but the Spaniard will be keen for himself and his players to be fighting on three fronts once again after a summer recharge.
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Gladbach, on the other hand, have very little beyond personal pride to play for across their final two matches, although they will be keen to bounce back after being thrashed 5-2 by Borussia Dortmund last weekend.
The title challengers raced into a 4-0 lead inside the opening 32 minutes of the encounter, as Die Fohlen's frankly embarrassing away form continued under Daniel Farke's tenure. Only VfL Bochum and rock-bottom Hertha Berlin have collected fewer points on the road than Gladbach this season.
As such, their confidence of gaining a positive result against Leverkusen may be somewhat slim, although they are undoubtedly facing them at a good moment given that their opponents were involved in a hugely draining and demoralising European match less than 72 hours prior to kickoff on Sunday.
Farke will be acutely aware that he is under significant pressure in terms of holding onto his job for next season, too, so any statement performances and victories his side can eke out over the closing week of the campaign would do his position no harm whatsoever.
Team News
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Leverkusen appear set to remain without Odilon Kossounou, Robert Andrich, Karim Bellarabi, Patrik Schick, Andrey Lunev and Charles Aranguiz for the remainder of the season, with Alonso's options to rotate a potentially fatigued side limited as a result.
However, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Timothy Fosu-Mensah were unused substitutes against Roma and could therefore be handed rare starts, with Nadiem Amiri, Amine Adli and Adam Hlozek also providing credible options to come into the starting XI after only appearing from the bench during the stalemate.
Gladbach, meanwhile, will travel without Ramy Bensebaini due to suspension after he received his fifth caution of the season against Dortmund. Marcus Thuram remains a doubt due to a minor muscle strain, with both players set to play their final games for the club next week after announcing they will leave on free transfers this summer.
Jonas Omlin, Semir Telalovic and Yvandro Borges Sanches all remain sidelined through injury, with Farke likely to restore club legends Lars Stindl and Christoph Kramer to his starting XI after only using both from the bench against BVB, while Alassane Plea should return to lead the line after missing the defeat through a ban.
Bayer Leverkusen possible starting lineup:
Hradecky; Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie; Hudson-Odoi, Demirbay, Palacios, Bakker; Diaby, Hlozek; Wirtz
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Olschowsky; Scally, Friedrich, Itakura, Netz; Kramer, Kone, Weigl; Hofmann, Plea, Stindl
We say: Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Borussia Monchengladbach
Leverkusen are likely to be angry yet highly fatigued after their exerted efforts against Roma ultimately came to nothing, and we believe Gladbach can defy their awful away record to gain a positive result on Sunday.
Farke's side always carry an attacking threat in transition and, although it is hard to envisage them keeping Leverkusen out at the other end, we expect to see an entertaining end-of-season affair at the BayArena.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Brett Curtis
