Kasper Hjulmand said he was not thinking about the pressure of Bayer Leverkusen's upcoming fixtures, which takes them to Volksparkstadion to face Hamburg on Wednesday.

Leverkusen are sixth in the Bundesliga and six points behind fourth-placed Stuttgart in the table after leaving it late to snatch a 1-1 draw with Mainz in their last league outing. 

The Werkself are only given a 35% chance of finishing in the top four, with RB Leipzig (45.5%), Stuttgart (53.9%) and Hoffenheim (66.1%) all better fancied by the Opta supercomputer season simulations. 

And Hamburg offers a stern test for Leverkusen, too, with the club sitting 11th in the table after embarking on an unbeaten run that saw them draw with leaders Bayern Munich.

Hjulmand's side then face Freiburg this Saturday before welcoming Arsenal to BayArena for the first leg of their last 16 clash in the Champions League four days later. 

"I'm not here just to have a job. I'm here to do my best for the team. That's why I don't think about pressure," Hjulmand told reporters of Leverkusen's next few weeks. 

"For me, it's just about preparing for tomorrow's game in the best possible way and winning."

Hjulmand also insisted that his team would make a faster start to the one that they made against Mainz, having failed to create many chances of note in the first half. 

Indeed, they registered an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.09 from their three shots in the opening 45 minutes, but did improve that tally to 1.28 after the interval. 

But a cause for concern has been Leverkusen's attack, with Jarell Quansah's equaliser against Mainz their only goal in their last three matches in all competitions. 

"Our recent performance against Mainz, especially in the first half, was not good. That's true. We have to and want to be more proactive," Hjulmand added.

"We're travelling to Hamburg to play better. We will invest everything we can to win. 

"As far as my attack is concerned, we're not as far away as it might feel after a game like the one against Mainz.

"They [Hamburg] performed particularly well against Bayern, Stuttgart and Dortmund. They are flexible in their build-up, strong on the counter-attack and bring in a lot of rotation."

It was also confirmed that Malik Tillman, who missed the draw with Mainz, is back in the squad, but the game comes too soon for Axel Tape and Tim Oermann. 

"Axel has made steps forward in the physical area. He's still a little short of a lot of playing minutes, but he's on a really good path," Hjulmand said. 

"Tim is also doing very well in training. His personality is great, he's very attentive. I have no problems using him. He'll get playing time in the next phase, I'm very sure of that."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Hamburg – Fabio Vieira

Fabio Vieira leads all Hamburg players this Bundesliga season with eight goal involvements (four goals, four assists).

The last players to have as many goal contributions in their debut Bundesliga season for Hamburg were Hakan Calhanoglu (15) and Pierre-Michel Lasogga (14) in 2013-14.

Vieira has also scored in consecutive Bundesliga games for the first time, with Gojko Kacar last scoring in three in a row for Hamburg between April and May 2015.

Bayer Leverkusen – Jarell Quansah

Leverkusen's Quansah scored for the third time in his 19th Bundesliga appearance last time out, and for the first time in two consecutive league matches.

Among all centre-backs in the current Bundesliga campaign, only six have scored more often this season, including Edmond Tapsoba and Hamburg's Luka Vuskovic (both four).

MATCH PREDICTION: BAYER LEVERKUSEN

Despite being favoured by Opta supercomputer, Leverkusen are winless in their last three matches in all competitions (D2 L1), having won six (D1) of the seven games prior.

This season, they have only had a stretch of three winless games in all competitions once before, which came in mid-January, while their last longer run of consecutive matches without a victory was between April and May 2023 (seven).

Hjulmand's side are also currently on a run of 14 away games without a clean sheet in the Bundesliga. The last time the Werkself had a longer run without a clean sheet on the road in the top flight was between February 2005 and February 2006 (17 games).

But they come up against a Hamburg side that have won just one of their last seven Bundesliga matches against Leverkusen (D1 L5), scoring only three goals in the process.

However, that sole victory came in a home fixture in February 2017 – indeed, HSV have won three of their last five Bundesliga home matches against Leverkusen (D1 L1).

But Hamburg suffered their first Bundesliga defeat of the second half of the season last weekend. They were previously unbeaten in six consecutive Bundesliga matches after their 1-2 loss to Freiburg on January 10. 

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Hamburg – 29.5%

Draw – 26.1%

Bayer Leverkusen – 44.4%