Bayer 04 head into Hoffenheim Vs Leverkusen in fourth place and carrying 13 of 15 possible Bundesliga points since the second matchday, a run that has turned Sunday’s meeting into more than a routine league game. Patrik Schick is tied for the top of the scorer standings with six goals, and his next finish would stretch a scoring sequence that has already matched a club mark.
That is why the search interest sits where it does today. Hoffenheim is scheduled to host on Sunday, 25 October at 15:30 CET, with Bayer 04 trying to keep a strong league rhythm while Hoffenheim tries to turn mixed domestic results into something steadier. The hosts have lost points in four of their six Bundesliga matches, yet they have also beaten Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 and then Olympique de Lyon 3-0 in the UEFA Europa League this week, a reminder that the side is not short on belief.
Bayer 04’s attack has given the numbers their edge. The team has delivered 112 crosses into the box, more than any other Bundesliga side, and its width has been a major part of the recent surge. Schick’s six league goals matter for another reason too: after his goal against SC Freiburg, he scored in each of the first six matchdays, and only Stefan Kießling had previously managed seven straight Bundesliga games for Bayer 04. If Schick scores again, the club record moves within reach; if he does not, the chase remains alive for another week.
Still, the clean storyline is interrupted by what happened last season. Bayer 04 dropped points against Hoffenheim in the previous campaign, so the form table does not erase the memory of a fixture that has not always tilted their way. That gives Sunday’s game a sharper edge than the standings alone suggest, especially with Andrej Kramaric and Oliver Baumann having stood out for Hoffenheim recently and Janis Blaswich having made his UEFA Europa League debut in Bayer 04’s 2-0 win over OFI Creta at the Pankritio Stadium. Jonas Hofmann scored both goals in three minutes, Bayer 04 finished with 33 shots and a clean sheet in Europe, and the trip away from home only reinforced how direct the pressure has become.
For Bayer 04, the question is not whether the form is real. It is whether it can hold up again against a side that has already complicated the picture once before. If Schick keeps scoring, the title race noise around Hoffenheim Vs Leverkusen only gets louder.
