'We're not tired, we love games' – Leverkusen boss Hjulmand brushes off fatigue

Kasper Hjulmand is not looking for any excuses as he shrugged off concern over fatigue ahead of Bayer Leverkusen's clash with Augsburg.

Leverkusen head to Augsburg on Saturday. It will mark their fifth game in the space of 14 days across all competitions.

Hjulmand's team have won three of their four games since the end of the November international break, beating Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, Manchester City in the Champions League and Borussia Dortmund in the DFB-Pokal.

Leverkusen went down 2-1 at home to Dortmund in the league last week, leaving them in fourth place heading into this round of fixtures.

Hjulmand is anticipating a physical test against an Augsburg team that are 14th in the standings, but he did not want fixture congestion to come into his team's thoughts.

"We're not tired, we love games," said the Dane.

"Of course, an away game at Augsburg is always difficult and intense. They've shown against Bayern Munich, Dortmund and Stuttgart that they can hold their own against top teams.

"We're absolutely ready and we’ll give our all again right to the end.

"It is very important to keep clocking up points in the last games of the year."

Augsburg are under new management, with Manuel Baum having replaced Sandro Wagner.

Baum will be in charge until at least the end of 2025.

"When a change of coach happens, sometimes everyone at a club pulls a bit closer together," Hjulmand said.

"But it doesn't have such a big impact on us, in the build-up we focus and concentrate 80 to 90 per cent on our own game. The rest relates to the opponents and the associated individual tactical issues."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Augsburg - Fabian Rieder

Augsburg have only scored 15 league goals this season, with Rieder responsible for three of those (20%).

Rieder has also provided two assists, so Leverkusen's defence will be aiming to lock him down as they seek a return to winning ways in the top flight.

Bayer Leverkusen - Christian Kouame

Kouame netted his third goal of this Bundesliga season last time out, making him the sixth Leverkusen player to score at least three times so far this term – this equals the Bundesliga record, as no other team in the competition's history has had more players score at least three goals in the opening 12 matchdays of a season.

This was last achieved by Leverkusen themselves in 2023-24).

MATCH PREDICTION: BAYER LEVERKUSEN WIN

Leverkusen have won 19 of their 28 Bundesliga matches against Augsburg (D7 L2) – among all teams they have faced at least ten times in the top-flight, their 68% win rate against Augsburg is their highest.

In fact, Leverkusen have won their last four Bundesliga meetings against Augsburg.

With ten points from 12 games, Augsburg are having their worst Bundesliga season since 2015-16, when they had only six points at the same stage.

Augsburg have lost four of their last five Bundesliga matches (W1) – only FC St. Pauli (five) have suffered more defeats in the last five matchdays.

Under Wagner, Augsburg collected an average of 0.83 points per game in the Bundesliga, the worst average of any coach in the club’s top-tier history. 

Leverkusen have scored 28 goals this Bundesliga season – the joint-second most in the league (after Bayern Munich's 44). Augsburg, by contrast, have conceded 27 goals, the joint-most in the league (with Heidenheim) and a new negative club record after 12 matches of a Bundesliga campaign.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Augsburg - 27.6%

Draw - 24.3%

Bayer Leverkusen - 48.1%