Leverkusen on treble hunt against West Ham – Bundesliga

Bayer Leverkusen resume their quest for a continental treble in Thursday’s UEFA Europa League quarter-final first leg with West Ham United (kick-off: 9pm CEST).

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Make no mistake, Leverkusen are the team to beat this season. This will be their 42nd competitive fixture in 2023/24 – they haven’t lost a single one. Their imperious form has them on the brink of a first Bundesliga title, as well as a second DFB Cup. Qarabağ came as close as anyone to ending the streak in the previous round, but Bayer’s ‘better late than Neverkusen‘ attitude enabled them to turn around 2-0 deficits in both legs. Xabi Alonso‘s men have since racked up wins over Hoffenheim and Union Berlin to go 16 points clear of Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, whilst swatting aside Bundesliga 2’s Fortuna Düsseldorf in the DFB Cup semi-finals. Victory against Werder Bremen next weekend will seal the deal with five games to spare, affording Alonso the luxury of delving deep into a squad rich in quality, should he want to. Jeremie Frimpong, Patrik Schick and Jonas Hofmann are among those rested against Union expected to start against West Ham, while former Manchester United youngster Matěj Kovář has been their cup goalkeeper this season and is likely to keep his place.

West Ham are also among the favourites to go all the way this year having won the UEFA Conference League last season, although their recent for has been less intimidating than Leverkusen’s, with seven of a possible nine Premier League points dropped prior to Saturday’s 2-1 win at Wolves. They beat Bundesliga opposition in the last round, though, and handily, winning past Freiburg 5-0 in London having lost the first leg of their last 16 in the Black Forest tie 1-0. Like Leverkusen, West Ham have used different ‘keepers at home and abroad this season, but Alphonse Aréola’s groin injury makes David Moyes’ decision between him and Łukasz Fabiański that much easier this time. Former VfB Stuttgart centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos is a familiar face to followers of the Bundesliga.

Watch: Alonso reaffirms his commitment to Leverkusen

Match stats

• Bayer are currently on a German record run of 42 games without defeat in all competitions.
• Florian WIrtz boasts a team high seven goal involvements (three goals, four assists) in this season’s Europa League. 
• The Bundesliga side are through to the Europa League quarter-finals for the second successive season. Die Werkself reached the semi-final stage in 2022/23. 
• Bayer are competing in the Europa League for a sixth successive campaign.
• Alonso led his team to a perfect group stage record before seeing Bayer advance to the last 16, where they eliminated Qarabağ in dramatic fashion.
• Bayer have not lost in their last seven European games at the BayArena, winning five and drawing two.  
• West Ham eliminated Bundesliga side Freiburg in the Round of 16 to set up this quarter-final tie. 

Probable line-ups

Leverkusen: Kovář – Tapsoba, Tah (c), Hincapié – Frimpong, Xhaka, Andrich, Grimaldo – Adli, Wirtz – Schick
Out: Mbamba (ineligible)
Doubtful: –
Coach: Xabi Alonso

West Ham: Fabiański – Coufal, Mavropanos, Zouma (c), Emerson – Souček, Álvarez – Bowen, Paquetá, Kudus – Antonio
Out: Aréola (groin)
Doubtful: Aguerd (match fitness)
Coach: David Moyes