Bayer Leverkusen head coach Kasper Hjulmand believes his side will not be able to play "champagne football" for 90 minutes against St. Pauli on Saturday.
The two sides face off at BayArena, with Leverkusen having the opportunity to move into the Bundesliga top four with a victory.
The Werkself defeated St. Pauli 3-0 in the DFB-Pokal last week, though they followed that up with a 1-1 draw away to Borussia Monchengladbach in the league.
Leverkusen have recorded 36 points after 20 Bundesliga games this season, nine fewer than at this stage last season.
Only in 2024-25 (45) and their title-winning 2023-24 campaign (52) have they accumulated more points at this stage across their last 11 top-flight seasons.
Leverkusen have had a full week of training ahead of their match against St. Pauli, which Hjulmand made the most of.
"We needed the time to talk about the different phases of our game," said Hjulmand.
"How we defend, how we handle the ball and what our attacking play should look like.
"We certainly won't always be able to play what I like to call 'champagne football' for 90 minutes. Because it will certainly be a combative game.
"But we will step on the gas and are ready to take a step forward in terms of our quality."
Leverkusen have come under some criticism over their recent performances, but Hjulmand believes that is a result of their high ambitions.
"We are still in all three competitions and have a good chance of achieving our targets. That's the positive thing," said the Danish coach.
"But, of course, we are critical because we are ambitious. We are in a phase where we are learning to stand together as a team.
"We are very focused on playing our best game. The criticism is completely okay. We are probably our own biggest critics."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Bayer Leverkusen – Patrik Schick
Patrik Schick has failed to record a goal involvement in his last four Bundesliga games, his longest drought since May to November 2024 (eight games).
However, he has scored in two of his three competitive matches against St. Pauli, most recently in this month's DFB-Pokal quarter-final in a 3-0 victory.
St. Pauli – Danel Sinani
Sinani has scored in consecutive Bundesliga matches for the first time, with his four goals this season making him joint-top scorer for his side with Andreas Hountondji.
Only Franz Gerber, Andre Golke, Dirk Zander and Hountondji have scored in three consecutive top-flight matches for St. Pauli (none more than three).
MATCH PREDICTION – BAYER LEVERKUSEN WIN
Leverkusen have faced no opponent more times in the Bundesliga this millennium without suffering a single defeat than they have against St. Pauli (W5 D2 in seven matches).
Including their 3-0 DFB-Pokal quarter-final victory this month, they have won five of their last six matches against the Kiezkicker in all competitions (D1).
St. Pauli, meanwhile, are winless in their last ten Bundesliga away games (D2 L8) – the longest current run in the league.
Since MD4, St. Pauli have collected just two away points in the Bundesliga, an outright league-low, and have suffered a joint-league-high eight away defeats in the competition this season (level with Heidenheim).
However, set pieces could help swing the match in St. Pauli's favour.
St. Pauli have scored 50% of their goals in the Bundesliga this season from set pieces, with only Mainz (52%) having a higher proportion. Leverkusen have conceded 48% of their goals from set pieces, a figure only exceeded league-wide by Koln (53%).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Bayer Leverkusen – 60.7%
Draw – 21.3%
St. Pauli – 18.0%