Full Strength Team Expected Against Leverkusen Tonight
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
After making six changes against Burnley Eddie Howe is expected to field his best available eleven against Leverkusen tonight in match 6 of the Champions League.
With a full four days before the derby on Sunday Eddie could decide that after resting some of the regular starters he can afford to play his best team in both crucial games.
A win tonight would not only guarantee a place in the play off's for the knockout stage but would put us in a great position to qualify automatically and avoid an extra two matches in an already jam packed season.
The top eight teams qualify directly for the last 16 while clubs who finish between ninth and 24th in the table move through to the play-off round. Teams who finish below 24th are eliminated.
Leverkusen go into the game in 4th position in the Bundesliga having lost their last two league games and with 8pts in the CL after two wins, two draws and a defeat.
A win tonight would take Leverkusen ahead of the Toon so it's a big match for both teams - with plenty of eyes on Big Nick on his return to playing in Germany.
No repeat of the gift against Marseille
The Marseille result is still fresh in the memory.
After a brilliant start with an early goal from Harvey Barnes the Toon could have been further ahead after a dominant and controlled first half display.
That hard work was undone in calamitous fashion by Nick Pope's mad rush from goal which allowed Aubameyang to slot home the equaliser within minutes of the restart and then fire in the winner shortly after.
I'm expecting Eddie to instruct the team to pile into Leverkusen from the kick off - as we did at USG and Marseille - to take the initiative away from the home team.
No sitting back for 15-20 minutes to ease ourselves into the game.
Having said that we need to be aware that Leverkusen have goal threats across the pitch with six players already on three goals or more this season with Patrik Schick the leading scorer on five.
That said Leverkusen aren't the best defensively and although they pulled off a 2-0 win at the Etihad against Man City they conceded seven at home against PSV in a defensive shambles that could resulted in ten or more.
So, my usual fiver is going on a 2-0 win - the same bet I had against Burnley that collapsed with yet another last minute goal conceded.
I'm expecting Nick Woltemade to have a stormer to further ram the Bayern nonsense down their throats and I'm doubling up my bet to include Big Nick scoring in the win.
Don't forget to enter your team in Eddie's Bingo
Last Post Eddie's Leverkusen Presser
In people's eyes the strongest eleven available is probably
Ramsdale
Livramento
Thiaw
Burn
Hall
Bruno
Tonali
Joelinton
Murphy
Woltemade
Barnes or Gordon
We've already played 3 matches recently coming into this one in the space of give it or take a fortnight. So our 4th match. Sunderland is on Sunday, the big cup match next Wednesday, then arguably a crucial game in regards to top 5 against Chelsea on the Saturday, before we play another 3 games over the festive period.
Wissa isn't an option to start , he's not fit enough yet , so it's woltemade or Gordon at the moment, woltemade simply cannot start every one. Midfield. Bruno, joelinton ,tonali have to have the odd breather ,…
Every game is arguably very important for different reasons , but Eddie is simply never going to be able to play his strongest eleven for every single one in this hectic schedule. What game does he pick to rest woltemade or Bruno, Hall ,tonali etc and others? He does it tonight people will complain , he does it for the Derby people will go mental , he then does it in the quarters next week and it backfires people will be on his back. Or he does it against Chelsea the following match and we drop points there be people again questioning it. He simply has to pick his battles.
Surely Hall and Tino can play our next 2 fixtures, ffs.
I don't want to see Burn anywhere near left back.
I think Ramsdale's performance will be crucial tonight, he obviously hasn't been up to speed in the matches he's played so far but hopefully we will see some improvement.
Given the goal threat posed by Leverkusen our defence will be looking for some strong support from Ramsdale; we know he has it in him, he just has to demonstrate it to provide some confidence for our defenders.
Good Morning All
These next two games are going to be very difficult, if we come out the otherside undefeated i will be very satisfied, even if it means two draws. HWTL