‘Complete confidence in our qualities’: Women go into derby rematch on winning run

Five wins in a row ensure a great atmosphere under the Bayer Cross ahead of the rearranged match. "We want to continue our winning run up to the international break. After the not-so-good feeling following the abandoned derby, the win at Hoffenheim has definitely encouraged us to continue on our path," said Pätzold: "Despite the very demanding opening fixtures, we are in a position to consistently pick up points and win - in different ways. That doesn't change the fact that the league remains unpredictable. If we continue to push ourselves to the limit in every game then we can continue to be successful."

Pätzold expects "few changes"

The fact that the match has to be played again is due to a floodlight failure that led to the match on 5 October being abandoned when the score was 1-0 to FC Köln. On Saturday, the German Football (DFB) announced at short notice that the match would be replayed on Thursday. "We can’t change how the fixture was rearranged but both teams don't approve of the date," said Pätzold: "We didn't have much preparation time due to the fixture schedule and there are hardly any changes in terms of our approach." Despite going behind after 26 seconds, he was not surprised by the home side's performance. "Köln played exactly as we expected in the derby. We want to improve what didn't go so well in the first 35 minutes," said the head coach: "We're fully convinced we could have turned the game around."

It is therefore hardly surprising that Pätzold feels "complete confidence in our qualities." Twelve points from the first five games prove the coach right. "Apart from against Bayern Munich, we've scored in every game and that should also be the case tomorrow. We're expecting another very intense game against a highly motivated opponent and we want to invest a lot of energy to clear improve our position in the table." With a home game against VfL Wolfsburg at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on Sunday (17:15 CEST, tickets available HERE), he added: "We have a great opportunity to overtake a number of teams and go into the top game in a good position." Three points in Cologne would see Leverkusen move up from fourth to second place.

There could be changes to the line-up compared with the Hoffenheim game. "We're also thinking about how we can divide up the workload ahead of the Wolfsburg game on Sunday. We have players who need different lengths of time to recover and we'll discuss the best way to approach the two games," said Pätzold: "At Hoffenheim, we also benefited from our very strong bench. We absolutely need fresh legs at Köln and against Wolfsburg to be able to hold our own." Cornelia Kramer (muscle injury) and Shen Menglu (torn cruciate) are still out, Amy Wrigge (knock) is doubtful, Vanessa Haim is an option again after recovering from injury.

Tickets remain valid

Tickets for the match on 5 October remain valid, further tickets are available HERE from the FC Köln online shop and at the matchday ticket office. Block H and the away standing area are available to Werkself fans.