#B04SVW - Countdown to kick-off on Friday night

Recent meetings

Werder Bremen have come out on top in most of the recent meetings. The last time the Werkself won was in the first half of the 2015/16 campaign with a 3-0 victory at Bremen. Bremen won both games at the BayArena last season in the league and the DFB Cup. This would be the first time Werder have won three games on the bounce at Leverkusen. Even under Otto Rehhagel in 1989 and 1990 and Thomas Schaaf in 2007 and 2008 they never managed more than two wins in succession away to the Werkself.

Lots of goals and bags of entertainment

The last three clashes between the Werkself and Werder have proved highly entertaining: 15 goals were scored in those matches. After the 73 games between the two sides to date the number of goals scored is equal at 114.

Werder in form

Bremen are currently on a good run. The Green and Whites beat Darmstadt to secure a third Bundesliga win in succession - the last time they achieved that was between December 2014 and February 2015 with five wins on the trot. Max Kruse has been heavily involved in the recent upturn. This year the striker has scored four goals in seven Bundesliga fixtures and that is more than in the whole of the calendar year 2016 when he found the back of the net just three times. Kruse has only been on the winning side against Bayer 04 once with the other games ending in two draws and five defeats.

The Werkself like Fridays

The Werkself have done well in Friday fixtures. In the last 22 Bundesliga home games they have always scored on a Friday and at least twice in the last six matches (16 goals). Hopefully these stats continue in the same vein

Significant absentees

Both teams are missing key players tonight. For Bayer 04 the suspended Hakan Calhanoglu and Jonathan Tah (in rehab training) are joined by Lars Bender who is ruled out of tonight’s squad with an ankle injury. Werder are missing their best striker Serge Gnabry (knee) and stalwart Clemens Fritz. The Bremen captain suffered a torn ligament in his right ankle. He underwent an operation this week and is ruled out for the rest of the season. The 36-year-old played 43 games for Bayer 04 between 2003 and 2006. Get well soon Clemens.

Werder hero Rudi Völler

Rudi Völler and Werder Bremen share a common past: The Bayer 04 sporting director scored 97 of his 132 Bundesliga goals in a green and white shirt putting him in third place in the list of all-time goalscorers at Werder. Only Claudio Pizarro (103 goals) and Marco Bode (101) scored more often for the club. Völler and Bremen sporting director Frank Baumann know each other from the past with Baumann playing for Germany under Völler as coach.

Live action via the LIVE App

The Bayer 04 live app, voted as one of the most innovative apps by a large app blog, is raring to go. You can download the app to follow the Werkself at bit.ly/b04live.

Information for fans travelling by train

Extensive work on the tracks means there are changes to the timetable on Friday in Leverkusen Mitte. This affects the following lines:

RE 1 (Hamm<> Aachen) - The trains are running with changed running times. On the weekend of 11+12 March 2017 does not stop in Leverkusen Mitte in the direction of Cologne; use the S6 service.

RE 5 (Wesel<>Koblenz) - The trains between Cologne Messe/Deutz <> Düsseldorf main station are cancelled. Please use the trains on lines RE1 and S6. A replacement service running on a change timetable will run between Düsseldorf and Wesel without stopping in Oberhausen-Holten and Friedrichsfeld.

S6 (Essen<> Cologne) – Mon. to Fri. one less journey per hour between Cologne <> Düsseldorf. On the weekend of 11+12 March 2017 there will be a reduced number of stops and earlier timetable in the direction of Cologne–Mülheim> Langenfeld (Düsseldorf).