Our next opponents: Hoffenheim and Kramaric looking up

Position

Things are looking up again for Hoffenheim: after the 2-1 win at Borussia Mönchengladbach, the Kraichgau side followed that up just four days later with a 3-0 win over Olympique Lyon in the UEFA Europa League, recording their first victory in the league phase. And they did so with an impressive performance against the current league leaders in France, who will also play Leverkusen in January. The star was 35-year-old striker Andrej Kramaric: the club's record goalscorer opened the scoring himself shortly before the break - his 159th goal in his 370th appearance for TSG - and then laid on the other two goals for Adam Daghim and Adam Hlozek. "We needed a win like that for the confidence," said Kramaric after the game.

Indeed, it's been a tough start to the season for Hoffenheim. The team who finished fifth in the Bundesliga last term lost four of their opening five league matches. Having beaten VfB Stuttgart 2-1 on Matchday 3, they picked up only their second win last weekend. Following the 2-1 success at bottom-of-the-table Gladbach, coach Christian Ilzer praised his side for "an assured performance in many aspects". New Germany international Bambasé Conté gave TSG the lead, and Alexander Prass replied quickly to Borussia's equaliser to seal the three points. "It's a small step but one that does us a lot of good," said Hoffenheim goalkeeper and captain Oliver Baumann. "It still wasn't completely perfect, but the attitude and the desire were there."

Those two things - and much more besides - were also on show on Thursday night in Europe. After the two defeats at OFI Crete (2-0) and at home to Besiktas (3-2), TSG impressed against Lyon with a dominant display over 90 minutes and also kept their first clean sheet in nine games in all competitions. Attention immediately turned to the upcoming task against Bayer 04 - including for man of the match Kramaric, who stressed: "We need wins, we need points. Now we're playing against Leverkusen and we all know what a good team they are. We might concede again there but the most important thing is to come off the pitch as winmers."

Personnel

Belgian talent Nathan De Cat will be out of action for TSG for the coming weeks.  The 18-year-old, who moved to Sinsheim from Anderlecht in the summer, suffered an injury to his left lateral meniscus in training before the Gladbach match and has since undergone surgery. As well as De Cat, centre-back Albian Hajdari and midfielder Patrick Wimmer are long-term absentees.

Ilzer is likely to rotate in some positions following the Lyon clash. Captain Baumann is a permanent fixture in goal. In front of him, Ozan Kaban and Koki Machida are normally the first-choice centre-back pairing, but Robin Hranac is also an option there. Vladimir Coufal and Mats Rots, a summer signing from Twente, have mostly started in the full-back positions, with Brazilian Bernardo an alternative. In central midfield, Ilzer has primarily deployed the duo of Leon Avdullahu and Wouter Burger so far. The Dutchman was the match-winner when TSG beat the Werkself in January of this year. In attack, Ilzer has various options. Conté, Daghim, Tim Lemperle, Fisnik Asllani, TSG stalwart Kramaric, former Bayer 04 player Adam Hlozek as well as Prass and youngster Max Moerstedt all offer great quality.

ProblemS

Hoffenheim are yet to come from behind to win a match this season. Even when they've taken the lead, that's been no guarantee for a successful outcome. Ilzer's men have been in front in five league games but have dropped nine points from winning positions - more than any other team in the Bundesliga. The Kraichgau outfit have registered the third-most shots of all teams, but their precision and chance conversion leave much to be desired. With 14 goals conceded - 11 in the second half - TSG also have the fifth-weakest defence in the division. In the Europa League, against both Crete and Besiktas, they were exposed on the counter-attack, with three of the five goals coming this way.

performers

Ilzer's team like to dictate play: after FC Bayern Munich (69.4%) and Bayer 04 (57.6%), Hoffenheim have the third-highest possession percentage (57.5%) in the Bundesliga, continuing a trend from last season. In the current campaign, TSG are also the best counter-attacking side in the German top flight with four goals on the break. They demonstrated those characteristics against Lyon: high pressing, quick transitions, collective defending. "We were dominant, aggressive and sharp in a lot of phases," praised their Austrian coach, who for all the individual class on the night - from veterans Baumann and Kramaric in particular - put it down to "a strong team performance". His Lyon counterpart Paulo Fonseca also admitted: "Hoffenheim were much more willing to attack than us and won the key duels."