Including qualification rounds, the Werkself have advanced the last 13 times when they've won the first leg by a margin of two goals or more. However, West Ham have won their last 11 European games on home soil - seven of them by a two-goal difference, which they'll need again tonight to knock out Bayer 04. The Hammers will certainly draw confidence from the fact they've won three of their last four home encounters with teams from Germany, while the Werkself have only triumphed on one of their last 10 visits to England.
Last year's UEFA Europa Conference League winners must do without a couple of key players tonight, though. Attacker Lucas Paquetá and full-back Emerson are both suspended after being booked in the first leg. It remains to be seen whether top scorer Jarrod Bowen will be fit - the forward missed the first leg due to a back problem.
Last weekend could have hardly turned out more different for both clubs. While the Werkself clinched the first Bundesliga title in the club's history with a 5-0 victory over SV Werder Bremen, West Ham suffered a blow in the Premier League. For the first time in 23 years, the Hammers lost a London derby at home to Fulham, losing 2-0 to the side in 12th place. At full time, manager David Moyes summarised: "I'm really disappointed." The 60-year-old Scot then quickly turned his attention towards today's second leg: "We will get ready for the game on Thursday night now, and hopefully we can respond in the right way.." Goalkeeper Lukas Fabianski, who faced 33 shots on his goal against Leverkusen last week, said after the game against Fulham: "We have a really good record at home in European competitions, so let's see what happens." There's more on the Hammers in our opposition profile.
Spanish referee José María Sánchez has been appointed by UEFA for the clash at the London Stadium. The 40-year-old will be assisted by compatriots Raúl Cabañero and Iñigo Prieto, with Carlos del Cerro Grande as the VAR.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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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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Hamburger SV and Bayer 04 meet again in the Bundesliga for the first time in almost eight years. This Tuesday evening, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET), the promoted team with impressive home form welcome the Werkself to the Volksparkstadion to round off the Hinrunde. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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The Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.
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