Leverkusen, who have suffered unexpected point losses this season, have been in great form in recent weeks. St Pauli also got a crucial win last week. Leverkusen are missing important players like Adli, Boniface and Hofmann, but in my opinion Leverkusen are the favorites. I expect Leverkusen to take the lead in the first half against St Pauli at home and in front of their fans. I think Xabi Alonso's team, which has won consecutive games and eliminated Bayern in the cup, will continue this streak for a while. However, my preference is that St Pauli, which has looked more effective in attack in recent weeks, will also score.
Our question before the season started was, will Leverkusen be able to maintain their performance like last season, or will they experience a decline? and that has been answered since the beginning of the season where they struggled to win.
I personally am not surprised by what they experienced this season, because I think the decline and rise of a team is something we usually see and that is what Leverkusen experienced at the beginning of this season.
Indeed, basically maintaining will be more difficult than creating, and that is something that is a problem for almost every team. We see many teams in different leagues also experiencing the same thing.