VfL Bochum will be aiming to avoid relegation from the Bundesliga by gaining a positive result against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
The visitors, meanwhile, require all three points to be certain of finishing sixth and qualifying for European football next season.
Match preview
© Reuters
Having comfortably survived in their first season back in the Bundesliga for more than a decade last time around, Bochum are in serious danger of falling back to Germany's second tier if they do not manage to beat Leverkusen on Saturday.
After beating their relegation rivals Augsburg 3-2 in a crucial battle, Bochum appeared set to fall to a defeat to rock-bottom Hertha Berlin at the Olympiastadion last weekend, but Keven Schlotterbeck equalised in injury-time to earn a precious point for his side and relegate their opponents in the process.
That goal means that Bochum head into the final matchday of the campaign with their destiny in their own hands, at least in terms of avoiding automatic relegation.
Victory would guarantee that they finish third-bottom at absolute worst - which would mean facing a two-legged relegation playoff against the playoff winners of the second tier - while a point would only prove enough to climb out of the bottom three altogether if Stuttgart lose to Hoffenheim and Schalke 04 fail to beat RB Leipzig away from home.
With seven wins from his 12 league games in charge at Vonovia Ruhrstadion since being appointed last September, Thomas Letsch will be confident that raucous home support can carry his side to victory this weekend, but the club as a whole will have a watchful eye on events elsewhere to see how his side are faring towards the bottom of the table.
© Reuters
The stakes for Leverkusen are clearly not as high heading into the final day of the season, but Xabi Alonso will be keen to cap the undoubted progress which he has helped implement since being appointed as manger last October by guaranteeing European football for next season.
Having recently been defeated 1-0 on aggregate by Roma in the Europa League semi-finals, Die Werkself's only route into Europe next time out is via a league position. It remains to be seen whether the team that finishes sixth ends up in the Europa League or Europa Conference League, as Eintracht Frankfurt would qualify for the former should they defeat Leipzig in the upcoming DFB-Pokal final.
As such, Leverkusen need to match or better Wolfsburg's result at home against already-relegated Hertha this weekend in order to hold the Wolves off in sixth spot, otherwise they will be relying on Die Roten Bullen lifting their second successive German domestic cup in order to compete in the Europa Conference League next season.
While Leverkusen will have aspirations of returning to the Champions League as soon as possible by securing a top-four finish in Alonso's first full campaign in charge, with all the signs suggesting they will be more than capable of doing so, the Spaniard will be keen for his players to continue to fight on multiple fronts as they have managed for the most part under his tenure.
Team News
© Reuters
Bochum appear set to be without Philipp Forster, Konstantinos Stafylidis, Mohammed Tolba and Patrick Osterhage due to injury, with Letsch likely to hand Schlotterbeck a start in defence after his goalscoring impact from the bench last time out.
That would mean Erhan Masovic moving into a holding midfield role, freeing up Kevin Stoger and Anthony Losilla to support the front three as they search for the goals that may be required to keep Bochum in Germany's top flight.
Leverkusen, meanwhile, will travel without Kerem Demirbay and Piero Hincapie due to suspension. Demirbay received his fifth caution of the season last time out against Borussia Monchengladbach, while Hincapie was shown his third red card of the campaign and will therefore also miss the opening two matches of next season.
Odilon Kossounou, Robert Andrich, Karim Bellarabi, Patrik Schick and Charles Aranguiz have all been ruled out due to injury, with Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Nadiem Amiri set to be called upon from the start to replace Hincapie and Demirbay respectively.
VfL Bochum possible starting lineup:
Riemann; Janko, Ordets, Schlotterbeck, Heintz; Stoger, Masovic, Losilla; Asano, Hofmann, Antwi-Adjei
Bayer Leverkusen possible starting lineup:
Hradecky; Tapsoba, Tah, Fosu-Mensah; Frimpong, Palacios, Amiri, Bakker; Diaby, Wirtz, Adli
We say: VfL Bochum 2-1 Bayer Leverkusen
Although Leverkusen will be keen to guarantee themselves European football for next season, Bochum's motivation is clearly much greater heading into this match given that their survival in the Bundesliga is on the line.
Die Unabsteigbaren have been extremely consistent on home soil for the majority of Letsch's time in charge so far, and we can envisage them ensuring that automatic relegation at the very least will not be on the cards by securing a vital victory on Saturday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Brett Curtis
