On Thursday evening, Bayer Leverkusen host Molde at the BayArena in gameweek six of Group H of the Europa League.
Bayer Leverkusen form guideDie Werkself drew 1-1 at fellow high-fliers Stuttgart last time out in the Bundesliga. The draw means that Xabi Alonso’s team has now produced back-to-back draws in the Bundesliga, with a 3-1 home win over Paderborn in the DFB Pokal sandwiched in between.
Bayer has already sealed their spot in the knockout stages of the Europa League, having won all five of their group games, scoring 14 goals and conceding two in the stellar run.
Leverkusen are unbeaten in their previous five home games in the Europa League, having recorded three wins and two draws. The German team has also been prolific at the BayArena in the Europa League, having scored at least two goals in seven of their previous ten games.
Molde form guideThe Norwegian team have been in decent form of late, as they head to Germany amid a six-game unbeaten run, having recorded four wins and two draws. Their recent games have certainly not lacked in goals, as 11 of their last 13 matches in all competitions have produced over 2.5 goals.
If the visitors suffer defeat, and Qarabag betters their result against Hacken, Molde will fail to qualify for the knockout stages and drop into the Europa Conference League play-offs.
However, after back-to-back Europa League defeats by Qarabag and Thursday’s opponents, Molde are now unbeaten in three games in the group. A 2-2 home draw with Qarabag last time out ended a short two-game winning run in the competition.
Molde have not exactly been convincing on their travels in the Europa League lately, as they have won just two of their last six away matches in the competition.
What am I backing?Bayer Leverkusen may have drawn their last two games, but they should have enough quality to see off their Norwegian opponents in this encounter.
