St. Pauli vs. Bayer Leverkusen preview: Can Hjulmand extend unbeaten start?

St. Pauli are sitting in fifth place in the Bundesliga table after mustering seven points from their opening four matches. Alexander Blessin’s side started the season with a thrilling 3-3 draw against Borussia Dortmund, before they recorded back-to-back victories over Hamburg and Augsburg. 

Unfortunately for the Kiezkicker, they were unable to make it three wins on the bounce in last Friday’s away clash with Stuttgart. In fact, they left the MHP Arena with nothing to show for their efforts after falling to a 2-0 defeat. 

While one undefeated record has disappeared, St. Pauli still have an unbeaten home record to protect after taking four points from their opening two matches at Millerntor. They may need to make full use of home advantage if they are to take maximum points from Saturday’s contest, having failed to win any of their last seven top-flight matches against Leverkusen. As a result, they have not beaten die Werkself in the Bundesliga since they picked up a 3-1 home win in November 1996. 

St. Pauli remain without the services of David Nemeth, Jackson Irvine and Ricky-Jade Jones. However, they should be able to call upon Karol Mets and Abdoulie Ceesay. 

Predicted lineup: Vasilj; Wahl, Smith, Ritzka; Saliakas, Sands, Sinani, Fujita, Oppie; Kaars, Pereira Lage

After replacing Erik ten Hag earlier this month, Hjulmand has started life as Leverkusen boss with a win and two draws in his opening three games. The Dane kicked off his tenure with a 3-1 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt, before his team played out a 2-2 draw in their Champions League clash with FC Copenhagen.

Leverkusen looked set to return to winning ways in last Sunday’s home clash with Borussia Mönchengladbach after Malik Tillman broke the deadlock in the 70th minute. However, Haris Tabaković’s 92nd-minute equaliser denied Leverkusen all three points, leaving Hjulmand’s side in 11th position in the Bundesliga table.