Will the Werkself get off to a dream start in the Europa League?

The Champions League is the measure of all things in the European Cup. But those who play in the Europa League will also give their best there. After all, there is a title and a trophy to be won and that should be the goal of the Werkself, which is still one of the top 5 favourites to win the title at the usual bookmakers before the first matchday. Therefore, it is clear that the Leverkusen vs. Häcken bet can only go in the direction of a home win.

Anything other than a commanding group victory for the Bundesliga team would be a very big surprise. Xabi Alonso’s team will be up against three national champions who missed out on the Champions League by a hair’s breadth. BK Häcken, the Swedish title holders, will kick off the tournament at the BayArena on Thursday.

The other two opponents are the Norwegians from Molde FK and Qarabag Agdam from Azerbaijan. Even though that will not be Bayer Leverkusen’s primary goal, we would not rule out an 18-point sweep. All the other three rivals can certainly be trusted with second place. An exit in the preliminary round as the last team in the group, on the other hand, would be a disappointment for any national champion.

In our Leverkusen vs. Häcken prediction, we can’t help but predict a win for the hosts, but we will have to look for bets with a higher value.

Leverkusen – Statistics & current form

Last season, Bayer Leverkusen already reached the semi-finals of this competition and only failed by a razor-thin margin to AS Roma. However, this long journey has shown that the Werkself is very competitive, at least in the Europa League. Therefore, the group stage should only be a stopover on the way to the playoffs. The foundation for this should be laid above all in the BayArena.

Bayer without a home defeat in the Europa League group stage

The Werkself doesn’t even know what it’s like to lose a home game in the Europa League group stage. Bayer 04 have been in this competition from the start five times and have not lost a single one of the 15 games played in their own stadium. In addition to three draws, there have been twelve victories. Again, we have a clue that the Leverkusen vs Häcken  odds being played must definitely have something to do with a home win.

In addition to the stately home record in the Europa League, we also have to factor in the current form of Xabi Alonso’s team. After four matchdays, Bayer Leverkusen are at the top of the Bundesliga. Ten points from these four games are an extremely good haul, especially since they have already played against RB Leipzig, in Gladbach and most recently in Munich.

In the Allianz Arena last weekend, the Werkself showed a mature performance and was completely on a par in the 2:2. There was no difference between the serial champions and this year’s challengers. Bayern took the lead twice, but first Alex Grimaldo equalised. In injury time, Exequiel Palacios marked the deserved final score after a penalty that was at least worthy of discussion.

Predicted Leverkusen line-up:

Bayer Leverkusen (Expected line-up) 3-4-2-1

Hacks – Statistics & current form

The Swedes have been more or less regularly represented in the European Cup for several years, but have always missed the group stages in the various competitions so far. This year, however, they have seized the opportunity, as after winning their first Allsvenskan title, Per-Mathias Högmo’s team began their journey in the Champions League qualifiers.

Lots of goals preprogrammed

Sensationally, however, they were defeated there by the Faroese from KI Klaksvik. Nevertheless, it was enough to get into the group stage of the Europa League for the first time. If you like, then the most successful period of the club from Gothenburg is now continuing internationally. However, due to their lack of experience on this stage, the Swedes should only have a chance in the entire group if they excel in several games.

The Swedes’ form is decent, but not outstanding. Especially the last two defeats in the last two away games cloud the overall impression a little. It is striking that there are always many goals in the matches of the Swedish champions. In the last seven games, they scored four or more goals six times. Therefore, in our Leverkusen vs Häcken prediction we dare a high-scoring match with more than 3.5 goals.

In the Allsvenskan table, Per-Mathias Högmo’s team is still in the thick of the title fight with seven matchdays to go. They are currently only in third place behind Malmö and Elfsborg, but are just two points behind the leaders. BK Häcken won the dress rehearsal before the Swedes’ biggest international match last Sunday at home against Halmstads BK with 3:2.

Predicted line-up of Häcken:

Häcken (Expected line-up) 4-3-3

Leverkusen – Häcken Direct comparison / H2H balance

In recent decades, Bayer Leverkusen and BK Häcken have been in completely different spheres. While the Werkself has often played in the Champions League or at least in the Europa League, the Swedes have always failed to qualify whenever they have played internationally. As a result, there has not been a single match between the two clubs to date.

In fact, Bayer Leverkusen have had very little experience with Swedish clubs. In the 1986/87 season, there were two duels with Kalmar FF, which went to the Bundesliga club with a total of 7:1. Häcken have only had the pleasure of playing RB Leipzig in 2018/19, but were eliminated in the Europa League qualifiers after a 1-1 draw and a 4-0 defeat.

Leverkusen – Häcken Tip

Bayer Leverkusen are in remarkable form at the moment. At the moment, it looks like Xabi Alonso’s team could develop into a serious title contender in all competitions. In the Bundesliga, the Werkself is at the top and has impressed in all four games. Especially the attack around Viktor Boniface is in great form.

Therefore, we can imagine placing a bet on a goal from the Nigerian attacker in our Leverkusen vs Häcken tip in the Bwin app. In general, there should be no way around a home win, especially as Florian Wirtz alone has a market value that is almost three times that of the Swedish champions’ entire squad.

Bayer 04 likes to play offensively and successfully. That is also true for Häcken. The results of the last few weeks show that some goals should be expected on Thursday as well. Bets on more than 3.5 goals seem to be a good choice. However, we still think the match will be one-sided and have decided to play the betting odds on a handicap win (-2.5) for the hosts between Leverkusen and Häcken.