In the final gameweek before the winter break, league leaders Bayer Leverkusen welcome VfL Bochum to the BayArena in the Bundesliga on Wednesday.
Xabi Alonso's phenomenal side confirmed their status as the Herbstmeisterschaft with a win over the weekend - the title of Bundesliga winter champions.
Match preview
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Sunday's routine 3-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt means Leverkusen are just one game away from going the entire first half of the season unbeaten.
They extended the run to 24 games in all competitions at the weekend, scoring 77 goals in the process, with Victor Boniface, Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz playing a starring role again in scoring in the win over Frankfurt.
After two straight league draws in thrilling encounters with Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgart, returning to winning ways was important as it maintains their four-point gap over Bayern Munich, who also won on Sunday.
It is no surprise that Leverkusen have made their best-ever start to a season, taking 39 points from a possible 45.
Their home form in particular has been spectacular across all competitions, winning 11 of their 12 games so far at the BayArena and drawing the other, scoring an astonishing 42 goals along the way.
The biggest obstacle will now be returning from the break in the same form and keeping the momentum they have built, as they will not play for almost four weeks.
On their return, Alonso will also be without five important players due to the Africa Cup of Nations getting underway, as Boniface will likely be heading off along with Edmond Tapsoba, Odilon Kossounou, Amine Adli and Nathan Tella.
There is still one more challenge to overcome though, and despite the fact they will come into the game as huge favourites, they now face the side who last beat them in a competitive fixture.
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Since Bochum's promotion in 2021, Leverkusen have won both games here to nil, but a 3-0 defeat on the final day of the season away from home in May was the last time they tasted defeat.
Thomas Letsch was feeling the pressure early on this season, after Bochum failed to win any of their nine Bundesliga games, but the manager has overseen a very positive response.
The visitors have now lost just one of their last seven, picking up 12 points in that run to move themselves out of the relegation zone.
An impressive 3-0 win over Union Berlin at the weekend sent them six points clear of the drop zone, meaning they will be above the dotted line heading into the winter break.
While 7-0 and 5-0 defeats to Bayern and Stuttgart are most notable, it must be considered that Bochum have held both RB Leipzig and Dortmund to draws this season, but this will be a much greater challenge.
Team News
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Being Leverkusen's final game for almost a month, Alonso may be reluctant to make any rotational changes, so Boniface, Wirtz and Alex Grimaldo are among those certain to start.
Adli will be hoping the manager looks to some fringe players from the start though, after he was kept on the bench at the weekend, with Jonas Hofmann starting instead.
The hosts will be without influential midfielder Exequiel Palacios after he picked up his fifth booking of the season in the Frankfurt win, earning himself a suspension.
As has been the case for a couple of weeks now, young Brazilian Arthur remains the only injury absentee for Leverkusen.
Kevin Stoger's suspension will be a big blow for Bochum, as the midfielder has scored four goals and set up a further five already this season, but a yellow card against Union will rule him out here.
That is yet another absentee added to an extremely long list for Letsch, so he will hope Erhan Masovic and Jordi Osei-Tutu can recover from illness to feature here.
Philipp Forster is currently out with a stomach issue, while Ukrainian defender Ivan Ordets will be sidelined with a hip injury.
Bayer Leverkusen possible starting lineup:
Hradecky; Kossounou, Tah, Tapsoba; Frimpong, Andrich, Xhaka, Grimaldo; Hofmann, Boniface, Wirtz
VfL Bochum possible starting lineup:
Riemann; Gamboa, Oermann, Schlotterbeck, Bernardo; Osterhage, Losilla, Bero; Asano, Goncalo Paciencia, Antwi-Adjei
We say: Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 VfL Bochum
Leverkusen have been ruthless at home, scoring plenty of goals and putting weaker sides to the sword, and this should be no exception, going into the winter break four points clear.
Bochum have not scored a goal here since coming back up, and even if they were to break that duck, they are unlikely to be able to keep Leverkusen's fearsome attack quiet in what could be a long evening.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Andrew Delaney
