Over the past decade, Augsburg have established themselves as one of the Bundesliga’s most consistent mid-table sides, and most pundits expect another similar campaign in 2026/27. However, Manuel Baum’s team have made an encouraging start and are already showing signs that they may be capable of aiming higher this season. After a victory in the cup, Augsburg also collected six points in the first two Bundesliga rounds. Last weekend, they won 4-1 on the road against Eintracht Frankfurt. The guests finished the match with xG of only 1.13, but their excellent efficiency was enough for another victory.

Augsburg’s head coach, Manuel Baum, was ecstatic after a victory against Eintracht Frankfurt. He commented, “That’s the beauty of football. After the first half, nobody would have expected this final score. We can thank Finn that we were only 1-0 down at halftime. We were too timid at that point, and Frankfurt had several chances. But this team believes in itself, and you could see that after the break. Of course, there was also a bit of luck involved with the two quick goals. The crucial thing was that we kept believing after halftime and had strong players coming off the bench. That is what defines our team.”

Augsburg have some problems with missing players. Tim Breithaupt and Steve Mounie are injured and will not play on Saturday, while Anton Kade, Faik Sakar, and Sima Suso are questionable, and their statuses will get clearer closer to the kickoff.

Last season was disappointing for Bayer Leverkusen. They finished sixth in the Bundesliga, and they surely expect much more in the 2026/27 season. After an easy victory in the DFB Pokal, Bayer Leverkusen opened the strongest domestic competition with three points in two league rounds. In the previous game, they won 4-0 at home against Union Berlin. The hosts dominated, finishing the match with an xG of 3.11, while the visitors had only 0.40, leaving no doubt about the winner.

After a victory in the previous match, Bayer Leverkusen’s head coach Carles Martinez couldn’t hide his optimism. He said, “We started very strongly. We showed the mentality we want to have this season. I’m so happy with our performance. I’m genuinely pleased with the squad and the effort we put in – I value the commitment and sacrifice shown by this team.”

Martin Terrier, Nathan Tella, Kennet Eichhorn, Guela Doue, and Montrell Culbreath are all questionable, and we should assume that some of them will recover in time for Saturday.

Both of these teams are excellent offensively. Augsburg scored nine goals in the last three matches. On the other hand, Bayer Leverkusen scored one more goal in the same period. After eight consecutive low-scoring games between Augsburg and Bayer Leverkusen, we should expect at least four goals on Saturday afternoon. 

 Bournemouth have had an extremely unlucky start to the season after three rounds. The team were leading away at both Manchester City and Newcastle, and they also led at home against Everton, but on all three occasions the final stages of the matches had a decisive impact on the outcome.

This time, however, it cannot be said that an impotent attacking side is coming to face them either. I consider Brentford a dark horse in the Premier League, and I expect them to achieve a serious result by the end of the season, as I have already emphasised several times in my analyses. This is mainly because of their dynamic style of play, which allows them to slow the game down structurally while also being capable of producing dangerous transitions in every match.

This is especially important because they have huge potential in their attacking department. Thiago, Anthony, Damsgaard, Schade, Dango Ouattara and Callum Wilson all provide them with excellent attacking options!

For this reason, I do not expect Bournemouth, who have conceded in every match so far, to keep a clean sheet today either. At the same time, their performances have been more than promising: they led 2–0 away at the Magpies, scored against City, and they still have attacking players who are more than capable of performing at a solid mid-table level in this league.