Werder Bremen will host a Champions League participant for the first time this season, as Bayer Leverkusen travel to Bremen for a Saturday evening clash (kick-off: 18:30 CEST) this weekend. Fin Bartels labelled this week’s opponents from the Rheinland as a “world-class team”, which also explains why Alexander Nouri noted, “it’s important that we stay compact and find a good balance to our game.”
How Nouri plans to face Leverkusen, which positive record Werder boast over this week’s opponents and whether the Saturday evening kick-off suits both teams, is revealed below.
Did you know...
... Werder have already won twice against Leverkusen this year? Early in the year, Bayer Leverkusen and SVW faced each other twice in 23 days. Both games were contested at the BayArena and both times the Green-Whites came out on top. The first match was the quarterfinal of the DFB Cup, which ended in a 3-1 win for Werder, after managing to turn round a 1-0 deficit at half time. A little over three weeks after this clash, Werder went one better, beating Leverkusen 4-1 this time with a Claudio Pizarro hat-trick.
... Bremen have a good home record vs. Leverkusen? The Green-Whites haven’t just been a nuisance to Bayer away from home, as the Weser-Stadion also hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Saturday’s opposition. Werder’s home record against Bayer is as follows: 16 wins, 15 draws and five defeats. In addition, in recent times, Bayer’s defence away from home has been shaky, as Bernd Leno has conceded exactly two goals in each of his last five away Bundesliga games.
... Werder could celebrate their 750th Bundesliga win at the weekend? They also had this opportunity last week in Darmstadt, but the Lilies’ equaliser in the last 15 minutes of the game denied the Green-Whites this milestone. It does mean, however, that Werder will get the chance to achieve this feat in front of their own fans.
... Leverkusen have only won one game against SVW when the Green-Whites have taken the lead? To be precise, Werder have scored the first goal in this encounter on 39 occasions and as a result, come away with the victory 25 times and drawn 13 times. The only occasion when Leverkusen have managed to turn the game around was in a 2-1 defeat at the BayArena in March 2014.
... the statistics from the last three games confirm Werder have improved since the start of the season? Not only have the Green-Whites gained the first points of the season against Wolfsburg and Darmstadt, the performances in the last three show how the team have grown defensively and offensively - the stats from these games back this up. For instance, in comparison to the first three matches of the season, Werder have had twice as many shots on goal and conceded half as many shots in the most recent three games. What’s more, the aggregate score for the first three games against Bayern, Augsburg and Gladbach was 11-2 against Werder, but Nouri has managed to dramatically turn this around, as the aggregate score from just his games is 5-5.
…Alexander Nouri has been working on counter-attacking play in training? “Use the opposition’s weapons against them” was the slogan in training this week. After the newly appointed Werder coach praised Leverkusen’s “outstanding ability to turn defence into attack quickly”, he then revealed that his own team have been working on the same playing style in training this week. “Quick transitional play in both directions is extremely important. We could be faced with dangerous counter-attacking situations. It is therefore essential to be well organised, otherwise things can go wrong quickly,” explained Nouri at the press conference on Thursday.
...both teams won their last Saturday evening game? Werder’s game at the Weser-Stadion will see the two teams, who have won the last two Saturday evening Bundesliga games, face each other. Bremen’s only win of the season so far came against Wolfsburg on Matchday 5, while the next Saturday evening game the following week, was won by Leverkusen, who overcame Borussia Dortmund 2-0.
These facts were put together by OPTA and WERDER.DE
