Stuttgart host Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga on Saturday, with the visitors in desperate need of a victory if they are to have any chance of surviving this season.
The hosts, meanwhile, got back to winning ways at FC Koln last weekend to move within two points of the top half of the table.
Match preview
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After making a superb start to their first season back in Germany's top flight, Stuttgart's form had stuttered a little in recent weeks, but they produced a controlled performance to win 1-0 in Cologne last weekend.
Indeed, Pellegrino Matarazzo's side have been far stronger on the road all season, taking 20 of the 29 points they have accrued so far away from home. While the extent of that imbalance may be unusual, though, many sides across Europe are finding matters easier on the road in the absence of fans providing genuine home advantage.
As was the case in the draw against Hertha Berlin in their previous match, Borna Sosa and Sasa Kalajdzic combined once again during the win over Koln, with the wing-back's delicious out-swinging cross emphatically headed inside the far post by the in-form striker.
Silas Wamangituka and Emmanuel Bonaventure both squandered excellent opportunities from close range for either side before Salih Ozcan almost equalised for the hosts with a thundering strike from distance which smashed off Gregor Kobel's bar, but Stuttgart held on for a win which all but removes any danger that they may be sucked into a relegation battle this season, with an impressive top half finish within their grasp.
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Schalke, on the other hand, can only dream of such a lofty position in the table at the moment, with last weekend's 4-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the Revierderby leaving them nine points adrift at the bottom of the league.
Little was expected of Christian Gross's side against their more talented rivals, and that is exactly how it panned out after Jadon Sancho fired the visitors into the lead with a calm finish to break the deadlock after 42 minutes. Three minutes later, the winger's tempting in-swinging cross sat up nicely for Erling Braut Haaland to acrobatically double BVB's lead moments before half time with a stupendous scissor kick.
Schalke simply could not live with Dortmund after the break, with Raphael Guerreiro capping a beautiful team move before Haaland bagged yet another brace after fine combination play between England duo Sancho and Jude Bellingham in the build-up.
Gross will be demanding a response from his players ahead of the trip to Stuttgart, who have only won once at home all season, but in all honesty it feels as though their season is all but over and it may be most productive to begin thinking about the best roadmap to bouncing back to the Bundesliga at the first attempt next season, as Stuttgart have pulled off on two occasions themselves in recent years.
Stuttgart Bundesliga form: LLWLDW
Stuttgart form (all competitions): LWLLDW
Schalke 04 Bundesliga form: LLDLDL
Schalke 04 form (all competitions): LDLLDL
Team News
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Stuttgart are likely to remain without Nicolas Gonzalez until late March after the talented forward sustained a hamstring injury earlier this month.
Konstantinos Mavropanos, Darko Churlinov, Clinton Mola and Lilian Egloff all remain on the treatment table, too, but captain Gonzalo Castro recovered to start against Koln last weekend.
Schalke, meanwhile, continue to have an extensive absentee list, with Nabil Bentaleb, Shkodran Mustafi, Ralf Fahrmann, Matija Nastasic, Mark Uth, Frederik Ronnow, Klaas Jan Huntelaar, Steven Skrzybski, Kilian Ludewig, Salif Sane and Goncalo Paciencia all likely to be ruled out of the trip to Stuttgart.
This injury crisis makes an already difficult job an almost impossible one for Gross, who will have to call on goalkeeper Michael Langer from the start after bringing him on for the injured Fahrmann during the first half against Dortmund.
Stuttgart possible starting lineup:
Kobel; Mavropanos, Anton, Kempf; Wamangituka, Endo, Mangala, Sosa; Forster, Castro; Kalajdzic
Schalke 04 possible starting lineup:
Langer; Becker, Thiaw, Oczipka, Kolasinac; Serdar, Stambouli, Boujellab; William, Hoppe, Harit
We say: Stuttgart 2-1 Schalke 04
We expect Stuttgart to be too strong for Schalke, although their margin of victory may be closer than anticipated.
Matarazzo's side have struggled on home turf this season, so it would be no surprise to see them make hard work against the physically and mentally depleted visitors.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Stuttgart win with a probability of 53.22%. A win for Schalke 04 had a probability of 23.89% and a draw had a probability of 22.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Stuttgart win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.78%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (9.26%) and 2-0 (8.48%). The likeliest Schalke 04 win was 1-2 (6.16%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.68%). The actual scoreline of 5-1 was predicted with a 1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Stuttgart would win this match.
