Stuttgart will be looking for just their third league win of the season when they welcome Union Berlin to the Mercedes Benz Arena on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the visitors are on a three-match winning streak heading into this weekend's Bundesliga fixture, looking to maintain their position in the European places.
Match preview
© Reuters
After a successful return to the Bundesliga in 2020-21 saw Stuttgart finish impressively in ninth place, just five points off Sunday's opponents in the final European place, their fortunes have been mixed in the current campaign so far.
Since hammering the newly-promoted Greuther Furth 5-1 on the opening weekend, Pellegrino Matarazzo's side have won just the once since - a 3-1 triumph over Hoffenheim prior to the international break.
However, despite disappointing results against rivals Freiburg and the other promoted side VfL Bochum, Die Roten have faced tough trips to European sides RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt, whilst hosting high-flyers Bayer Leverkusen as well.
Another side competing in European competition this season visits the Mercedes Benz Arena on Saturday, and after visiting Borussia Monchengladbach last weekend, it has been a tough set of fixtures to begin the new campaign with.
Stuttgart did manage to come away with a point at Borussia-Park last Saturday, with Konstantinos Mavropanos giving the visitors the lead, before Jonas Hofmann equalised just before half time.
Despite facing a barrage of attempts from Gladbach, Stuttgart fought hard and somehow earned themselves a point for their efforts, after attempting just five shots all game, in comparison to an incredible 31 from their hosts.
As mentioned above, the games do not get any easier for Stuttgart, starting on Sunday against a side they only managed to earn a single point off last season.
© Reuters
Visitors Union Berlin arrive at the Mercedes Benz Arena on Sunday on a great run of form, despite suffering a minor setback in Europe on Thursday.
Union fell 3-1 to Feyenoord in their latest Europa Conference League tie, in which Urs Fischer's side were second-best throughout and deservedly came away with nothing despite Taiwo Awoniyi's first-half goal keeping the score at 2-1 for a long period of the match.
Now their attentions quickly turn back to Bundesliga action, where Die Eisernen have picked up from where they left off in 2020-21.
Their impressive seventh-placed finish earned them the spot in the debut season of the Europa Conference League, which came largely as a result of their incredible home record.
However, their results on the road are what hold the capital side back, with just five victories from their last 20 Bundesliga away trips.
Although, the 2-1 win against Mainz 05 in their last away game in the Bundesliga was a solid result considering the form of their hosts in that one, and with that victory being in the middle of a three-game winning streak, Fischer will have his side full of confidence when they head to Stuttgart on Sunday.
- L
- D
- L
- D
- W
- D
- W
- D
- L
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Stuttgart remain without their talismanic striker Sasa Kalajdzic on Sunday, with the Austrian being ruled out since the second league match of the season back in August.
An outbreak of COVID-19 has hampered the hosts recently, which will keep out first-choice goalkeeper Florian Muller, as well as Roberto Massimo.
However, Waldemar Anton and Erik Thommy are likely to be available again after recent absences caused by it too.
Long-term absentees Enzo Millot, Mohamed Sankoh, Momo Cisse, Lillian Egloff and Silas Katompa Mvumpa all remain on the sidelines, though.
Meanwhile, Union vice-captain Marvin Friedrich is the only confirmed absentee ahead of this one, although Pawel Wszolek is also unlikely to feature due to his ankle injury that has forced him to wait to make his competitive club debut.
Awoniyi is a certain starter up front, with his six Bundesliga goals placing him behind only Erling Braut Haaland, Robert Lewandowski and Patrik Schick in the top goalscorer charts.
Captain Christopher Trimmel has found himself on the bench in recent weeks, but after impressing in the defeat in the Netherlands in midweek, he may regain his place at right wing-back in place of Julian Ryerson.
Stuttgart possible starting lineup:
Bredlow; Mavropanos, Anton, Kempf; Karazor; Coulibaly, Mangala, Endo, Sosa; Marmoush, Fuhrich
Union Berlin possible starting lineup:
Luthe; Jaeckel, Knoche, Baumgartl; Trimmel, Haraguchi, Khedira, Promel, Giesselmann; Awoniyi, Kruse
We say: Stuttgart 1-1 Union Berlin
There is very little to separate these two sides as we head into Sunday's encounter, so a 1-1 draw where they cancel each other out seems like a likely outcome.
The prediction would be very different had Union been playing at home, but their patchy away record means the sides are very evenly matched.
Top tip
Matthew Tranter
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 40.22%. A win for Union Berlin had a probability of 34.23% and a draw had a probability of 25.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Stuttgart win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.28%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.68%) and 2-0 (6.66%). The likeliest Union Berlin win was 0-1 (8.43%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.09%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 12.1% likelihood.
