Bayer Leverkusen vs Fortuna Dusseldorf: Betting Odds & Prediction

Bundesliga pacesetters Bayer Leverkusen host 2.Bundesliga outfit Fortuna Dusseldorf at the BayArena on Wednesday with a place in the DFB Cup Final up for grabs.

Leverkusen are the only top-flight side left in the DFB Cup and remain on course for the domestic league and cup double. It’s been a historic season for Dusseldorf too, who have reached the semi-finals of the Cup for the first time in 37 years. Kick-off is set for 7:45pm UK time.

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Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen, who have moved 13 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with seven games remaining, have scored 4.75 goals per game on average during their DFB Cup campaign this season. They set their stall out early with an 8-0 drubbing of Teutonia Ottensen in the first round back in August. They would follow that up with cup victories against SV Sandhausen (5-2), SC Paderborn (3-1) & VfB Stuttgart (3-2) en route to the semis. The North Rhine-Westphalia side haven’t lifted the DFB Cup since their sole success in 1993.

It's been an astonishing period for Leverkusen. Since losing 3-0 to Bochum in the last game of the 2022-23 Bundesliga season, Xabi Alonso’s Schwarzroten have gone on a 39-game unbeaten run in all competitions. They have scored at least two goals in each of their last eleven matches (averaging 2.36 goals during that stretch), winning ten. Their expected goals (xG) tally during league games at the BayArena this season is 2.25, with a match goals average of 3.31 at home.

Fortuna Dusseldorf

Unsurprisingly, it’s been a tougher road to the semi-finals for German Division 2 outfit, Dusseldorf. Both teams would net in all four of their previous DFB Cup matches this season, with an average of 3.75 ‘normal time’ goals scored. They required spot-kicks to knockout St Pauli in the quarter-finals and extra-time to see off 3.Liga minnows, SpVgg Unterhaching, earlier in the campaign. Twice DFB Cup winners and five times runners-up, they are attempting to reach their first Cup Final since 1980.

Daniel Thioune’s men still have high hopes of returning to the Bundesliga for the first time since the 2019-2020 season and are currently only six points off the automatic promotion spots. They arrive at the BayArena on a seven-game unbeaten run and have netted in all of their previous 13 matches. Match goals averaged exactly four per game during that 13-match scoring streak.

Prediction

Leverkusen have won their last seven matches against Dusseldorf, a run of games stretching back to 2012, scoring 2+ goals during each of those victories. Alonso’s men are on a dream run at present and we can’t see them getting derailed just yet.

They did concede in all three of their previous DFB Cup games (and their three latest matches), so Dusseldorf may at least grab a goal at the BayArena.

OddsNow's Pick: Bayer Leverkusen to win with BTTS (15/8 @ BoyleSports)