Last year’s top 3 rivals are set to square off in the opening week of the new Bundesliga campaign, with Borussia M’gladbach in great spirits after the 6-1 hammering of Young Boys.

On the other hand, this will be the first high-profile game for Bayer Leverkusen this season, so it remains to be seen whether they can match in-form die Fohlen.

After Lucien Favre had transformed Borussia M’gladbach from relegation strugglers to Champions League hopefuls, it was Andre Schubert’s turn to take the club forward.

The talented coach did well to secure Champions League qualification at the first attempt, although die Fohlen had to go through the qualifying stages.

That, however, proved to be a blessing in disguise as the two games against Young Boys helped the team hit the ground running earlier than planned.

The 9-2 aggregate win over the Swiss side proves that Borussia M’gladbach are already in a very good shape and no wonder they have been made 2.40 (7/5) favourites to beat Bayer Leverkusen.

After they were rested in midweek, the likes of Andre Hahn, Jannik Vestergaard, Mahmoud Dahoud and Oscar Wendt are expected to return to the side.

Meanwhile, Alvaro Dominguez, Josip Drmic, Marvin Schulz and Mamadou Doucoure are out injured and Nico Schulz has been relegated to the reserves.

Probable starting line-up (3-4-1-2): Sommer – Jantschke, A. Christensen, Strobl – Traore, Dahoud, Kramer, Wendt – Stindl – Hahn, Raffael.

Bayer Leverkusen have been the best of the rest in German Bundesliga for quite some time now, albeit failing to challenge Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

Chances are they will not be able to make the next step this term either, despite signing some quality footballers in the summer transfer window.

Aleksandar Dragovic, Kevin Volland and Julian Baumgartlinger are all expected to improve the quality of the squad, although the departure of Kevin Kramer could prove to be an issue.

The good news is that Charles Aranguiz is finally fully fit, while winger-turned-central midfielder Kevin Kampl is doing really well in his new role.

Coach Roger Schmidt is unlikely to make major changes to the side that defeated minnows Hauenstein in the DFB Pokal, although Hakan Calhanoglu should come in for injured Javier Hernandez.

New signing Aleksandar Dragovic is sidelined through injury, as are Lars Bender, Stefan Kiessling and Danny Da Costa.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Leno – Jedvaj, Tah, Toprak, Henrichs – Bellarabi, Kampl, Aranguiz, Mehmedi – Volland, Calhanoglu.