At the beginning of this season, we saw Leverkusen's inconsistent performance. We thought that Leverkusen might not be able to compete for the title this season. But gradually we can see Bayer Leverkusen's improvement. With the help of Xabi Alonso, Leverkusen is now quite strong. And now the team is competing for the title.
Yes they got not so an good start into the season and League , but lately as you have written they improved there playing and game.
Its not only the help from Xabi Alonso , also Florian Wirtz has got an huge impact on that the last weeks.
About the race for the title i would say the first 4 or 5 places are still not out of that and there are still a lot of games left in this season.
Dortmund may be involved again in the trophy race, considering the large number of matches left in the second half of the season. We know that the points gap that has been formed is very wide, but Dortmund still has the opportunity to reduce it when they face each other directly later. The main competition will still be led by Bayern Munchen and Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt, Leipzig and Mainz seem to only be able to provide temporary pressure. Leverkusen efforts to retain the trophy this season will not be easy, because overall the competition has become more competitive.
On the other hand, Leverkusen will face a big challenge in January, because some of their key players are in demand by elite European teams. Xabi Alonso must work hard to convince his players to stay, and fight until the end of the season to create a historic record. Many doubt that Leverkusen will be able to defend the title this season, I think that is very reasonable because Bayern Munchen has performed very consistently since the beginning of the season.