Leverkusen need to take that extra step against Tottenham

After letting slip winning positions in both their previous fixtures in Group E, Bayer 04 Leverkusen will be wary when Tottenham Hotspur FC, buoyed by a first win in the campaign, visit Germany.

Previous matches
• Dimitar Berbatov, who spent five seasons with Leverkusen before joining the White Hart Lane club in May 2006, scored the only goal as Tottenham came out on top in the UEFA Cup group stage fixture between the sides six months later.

• The line-ups in the BayArena on 23 November 2006 were:
Leverkusen: Butt, Madouni, Juan, Ramelow (De Wit 80), Schneider, Rolfes, Barnetta (Schwegler 15), Barbarez, Castro, Voronin, Kiessling (Freier 46).
Tottenham: Robinson, Chimbonda, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Tainio, Zokora, Malbranque (Huddlestone 68), Keane, Berbatov (Mido 76).

Match background

Leverkusen
• Third in last season's Bundesliga, Leverkusen conceded a 2-0 lead at home to CSKA Moskva on matchday one and had to settle for a 2-2 draw.

• Competing in the UEFA Champions League group stage for a fourth consecutive season, they suffered more disappointment on matchday two, leading 1-0 at AS Monaco FC until a 94th-minute equaliser.

• Roger Schmidt's men were eliminated in the group stage last term and went on to reach the UEFA Europa League round of 16 before losing 2-0 on aggregate to Villarreal CF.

• Leverkusen are unbeaten at home in UEFA competition since being beaten by Monaco in November 2014. Their European record at the BayArena since then is P8 W4 D4.

• The Bundesliga club last faced English opposition in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League group stage when they lost 5-0 at home to Manchester United FC.

• Their overall home record against Premier League teams is W3 D2 L5.

Tottenham
• Back among the European elite after an absence of five seasons, Tottenham began with a 2-1 defeat against Monaco at their adopted home, Wembley Stadium. They bounced back in style by winning 1-0 in Moscow through Heung-Min Son's late goal.

• Tottenham lost 3-0 away at Borussia Dortmund in last season's UEFA Europa League round of 16 and won only one of their five games on opponents' grounds in the competition.

• Their heaviest European defeat came in Germany – an 8-0 loss at 1. FC Köln in the 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup. Their record in 18 UEFA encounters with German clubs reads W9 D2 L7 (W3 D1 L6 in Germany).

Coach and player links
• Son played for Leverkusen from 2013 to 2015. He made 62 appearances, scoring 21 goals.

• While with Hamburger SV from 2010 to 2013, Son faced Leverkusen six times,  drawing three and losing three.

Heung-Min Son (L) in Leverkusen colours©AFP/Getty Images

• Aleksandar Dragović scored in FC Basel 1893's 2-2 draw at home to Tottenham in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League quarter-final second leg, a result which ensured extra time. Basel won the penalty shoot-out that followed.

• Javier Hernández was with Manchester United from 2010 to 2014 but never managed to get on the scoresheet against Spurs.

• Kevin Wimmer played for Köln from 2012 to 2015 and faced Leverkusen twice, drawing one and losing one.

• Harry Kane and Eric Dier scored in England's 3-2 win over Jonathan Tah's Germany in a Berlin friendly in March 2016.

• Kane was on target in England's 2-1 win over Turkey in a Manchester friendly in May 2016. Hakan Çalhanoğlu scored for the visitors.

 • Wimmer plays in the Austrian national team together with Ramazan Özcan, Aleksandar Dragović and Julian Baumgartlinger.

 • Lars Bender scored Germany's winner in a 2-1 defeat of Christian Eriksen's Denmark in a UEFA EURO 2012 group stage encounter in Lviv.

 • Charles Aránguiz scored in Chile's penalty shoot-out win in the final of the 2016 Copa América against Erik Lamela's Argentina in East Rutherford.

Match facts

Leverkusen
• Leverkusen are ten matches unbeaten at home (W7 D3) since a 4-1 loss to SV Werder Bremen in March.

• Admir Mehmedi scored his first Bundesliga goal in almost a year as Leverkusen beat Dortmund 2-0 on 1 October. He was again on target for Switzerland in their 2-1 victory over Andorra on 10 October.

• Hernández has scored six of Leverkusen's last eight goals.

• Hakan Çalhanoğlu's late penalty rescued a 2-2 draw for Turkey in their European Qualifier against Ukraine on 6 October. Leverkusen have missed both of their spot kicks this season: Hernández (L2-1 v Eintracht Frankfurt, 17 September, hit post) and Aránguiz (0-0 v FC Augsburg, 21 September, wide).

• Joel Pohjanpalo, scorer of Leverkusen's first four Bundesliga goals this season, suffered a broken metatarsal in training on 28 September and is likely to be out until matchday six.

• Baumgartlinger and Dragović picked up thigh problems on international duty with Austria and were unused substitutes for Saturday's 2-1 defeat at SV Werder Bremen.

• Vladlen Yurchenko has not featured since breaking his fibula in training while on international duty at the beginning of September.

• Karim Bellarabi will be out for the rest of the year having undergone surgery on his groin in September.

Tottenham
• Tottenham had won their last five games prior to Saturday's 1-1 draw at West Bromwich Albion FC.

• Spurs are unbeaten away from home this season (W3 D2), scoring nine and conceding only three in the process.

• Tottenham have scored at least once in each of their last 21 outings.

• Son has scored four league goals in five games this season, equalling his tally from last term achieved in 28 appearances (13 starts).

• Kane suffered a right ankle injury on 18 September and is expected to be sidelined until matchday five.

• Tottenham ended Manchester City FC's 100% start to the Premier League season on 2 October, winning 2-0 despite Lamela having a second-half penalty saved.

• Dele Alli, Dier, Danny Rose and Kyle Walker all started England's 0-0 draw in Slovenia on 11 October in the European Qualifiers.

• The following were on target during the international break: Alli (England 2-0 Malta), Son (South Korea 3-2 Qatar), Toby Alderweireld (Belgium 4-0 Bosnia and Herzegovina), Vincent Janssen (Netherlands 4-1 Belarus), Josh Onomah (England U21 5-0 Bosnia and Herzegovina U21).