At the pre-match press conference, the Covid-19 infection of Edmond Tapsoba was also under discussion. “It’s hit us now...,” said a somewhat deflated Bosz. “The doc called me last night. Edmond was surprised by the result of the test. But he feels alright so far.” The relevant local health authority will determine how long the 21-year-old will have to spend in self-isolation. “If he remains free of symptoms then he might be able to keep fit at home. Our fitness coaches are discussing it with him,” Bosz added.
In addition to Tapsoba, the Werkself will again have to manage without long-term absentees Paulinho, Santiago Arias and Exequiel Palacios, who suffered a serious back injury playing for Argentina, for the game against Bielefeld. And the skipper Charles Aránguiz is also unavailable due to an Achilles problem and the Chilean is still currently training on his own. There is good news about Patrik Schick. The 24-year-old has been in full training all week. Subject to the final pre-match training session, Bosz is hoping Schick can return to the squad.
In spite of the coronavirus case and the long injury list: “We have to accept the situation as it is. Now we have to focus on Bielefeld and get a good result. Bielefeld are a good team. They started well in the league but then had problems. We’re obviously going there to win the game.” The coach would like to see his team play with same energy against Arminia as they did against Gladbach. “It won’t be easy against a more defensive team but we’ll have to find the right answers. How the game develops will mainly depend on us.”
It has been a few years since the last Bundesliga fixture between the Werkself and Arminia: That match in May 2009 in Leverkusen ended in a 2-2 draw. And a look at the stats reveals the newcomers have been tough opponents for the Werkself in the past. In the previous 28 Bundesliga meetings, Bayer 04 have won ten, drawn ten and lost eight times. The most recent results clearly favour the Werkself. While the Peter Bosz team (four wins, three draws) and VfL Wolfsburg are the only unbeaten sides in the current Bundesliga campaign , Bielefeld have lost all of their last five games. But Bosz believes: “They will have used the international break well. They will try to make life difficult for us.”
Match information:
Broadcasters: Sky, Werks11 Radio
Referee: Will be announced on the day of the game
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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The Bundesliga fixture between Hamburger SV and Bayer 04 Leverkusen has been postponed at short notice.
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Bayer 04 face Hamburger SV for the first time in almost eight years. Although the Hanseatic city team are often below par on the road, they are regularly in top form in front of their own fans. In particular, 18-year-old shooting star Luka Vuskovic is proving to be a real bonus for Merlin Polzin's team, both in attack and defence. However, that should not scare the Werkself: Not only was the last defeat against the newly promoted team 17 games ago, but Kasper Hjulmand's players are in with a chance of securing their fifth win in six games against HSV. Today’s matchday news.
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