Three weeks after their last competitive outing, VfB return to action on Saturday evening as Sebastian Hoeneß’s side begin the new year with a trip to Bayer Leverkusen and a primetime kick-off at 18:30 CET. The meeting with last season’s runners-up begins a busy period of nine fixtures in 29 days. “It’s certainly going to be demanding and intensive, but the fact we have so many games shows that we’re involved in all three competitions, which is a good sign,” said Hoeneß in his press conference on Thursday.
“We’re travelling to Leverkusen feeling good and motivated,” continued the VfB boss ahead of the Bundesliga resumption. “We’re not too far from them in the table, fancy our chances and want to get off to a good start.”
The last two Bundesliga encounters between the two sides at the BayArena ended in draws (2-2 and 0-0), while VfB were edged out on penalties in the 2024 Supercup and 3-2 in the DFB Cup quarter-final two years ago. “We intend to change these statistics,” added Hoeneß, while acknowledging that the hosts have steadily improved since their change of coach in late summer. “Kasper Hjulmand has formed a good team with strong individual players. They’re in a good position in all competitions.”
Good and bad news on personnel
While Ermedin Demirovic has come through “without problems so far” after his metatarsal injury and is in contention again, new signing Jeremy Arevalo is also an option in attack, although Hoeneß urged for patience with the 20-year-old Ecuadorian. Nevertheless, it’s important “to have more options again, especially with Bilal El Khannouss missing (on international duty for Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations)”.
In addition, Tiago Tomas, Lazar Jovanovic, Noah Darvich, Jovan Milosevic, Dan-Axel Zagadou and Luca Jaquez are all out injured or working their way back from injury. Finn Jeltsch is a doubt with a back problem and Ameen Al-Dakhil will miss out due to illness.
