Fresh from punching their ticket to the DFB-Pokal final, Stuttgart will endeavour to boost their European qualification hopes when they travel to Vonovia Ruhrstadion to face relegation-threatened VfL Bochum in the Bundesliga on Saturday afternoon.
Die Roten are looking to complete the double over Die Unabsteigbaren after winning the reverse fixture 2-0 at MHPArena in November.
Match preview
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After narrowly avoiding relegation via the playoffs last season, Bochum are battling to avoid the drop again this season and their 20 points accumulated from 27 games is their lowest-ever tally at this stage of a Bundesliga campaign.
One statistic that does not read well for Die Unabsteigbaren is that only three of the last 51 teams that have collected a maximum of 20 points at this stage have managed to avoid relegation - the last of those was Mainz 05 last season, though, who were the only side not to need a relegation playoff to survive.
Dieter Hecking's side have lost three of their last four Bundesliga matches, including last weekend's 3-1 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen, and they now sit 17th in the table and two points behind Heidenheim who leapfrogged them in the standings courtesy of a 1-0 win over Wolfsburg last time out.
Bochum are keen to return to winning ways quickly, but they head into Saturday's contest having won only one of their last 15 Bundesliga meetings with Stuttgart (D4 L10), although it was their most recent home encounter last season, with Matus Bero's second-half strike sealing a narrow 1-0 win.
While spirits are not so high in the Bochum camp at present, Stuttgart are in buoyant mood after they beat RB Leipzig 3-1 on Wednesday to advance to the DFB-Pokal final, where they will test their mettle against third-tier giant-killers Armenia Bielefeld.
Goals from Angelo Stiller, Nick Woltemade and Jamie Leweling helped Die Roten end a six-game winless run (D2 L4) and move one step closer to winning their first major trophy since the 2006-07 Bundesliga title.
With the final scheduled for the end of May, Sebastian Hoeness and co can now focus solely on their remaining seven Bundesliga matches in which they will attempt to climb from their current position of 11th and close the seven-point gap to the top six.
Stuttgart, who are remarkably 20 points down on their return at this stage last season, have only picked up eight points from a possible 30 available in the second half of the campaign - only basement club Holstein Kiel have accumulated fewer points (six) in that time, while Bochum have collected one point more (nine).
Die Roten have also won just one of their last five away games - most recently losing 1-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend - but there is reason for them to be confident of success on Saturday as they are unbeaten in their last 11 Bundesliga games against teams sitting in the bottom three (W8 D3) - the joint longest ongoing run in the division along with Bayer Leverkusen.
Team News
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Bochum duo Bernardo and Koji Miyoshi missed the defeat to Leverkusen last time out with respective knee and thigh injuries and both players will be assessed ahead of kickoff this weekend.
Hecking is unlikely to make too many changes, if any, to his starting lineup, although Monaco loanee Myron Boadu - who has scored a team-high seven goals this term - will be hoping to force his way back into the first XI ahead of either Philipp Hofmann or Giorgos Masouras.
As for Stuttgart, Arnie Chase (hamstring), Justin Diehl (muscle), Luca Raimund (thigh), Dan-Axel Zagadou (knee) all remain sidelined with injuries, while Josha Vagnoman is doubtful with a muscle problem.
Ameen Al-Dakhil is suspended after receiving a straight red card in the Bundesliga loss to Frankfurt, while Angelo Stiller and Maximilian Mittelstadt are also on the naughty step after picking up five yellow cards.
Ramon Hendriks and Nick Woltemade could be recalled to replace Mittelstadt and Stiller respectively, with the latter operating on the left flank, Enzo Millot subsequently dropping into a deeper midfield role alongside Atakan Karazor, and Chris Fuhrich moving in an advanced central role behind striker Ermedin Demirovic.
VfL Bochum possible starting lineup:
Horn; Oermann, Ordets, Wittek; Passlack, Bero, Sissoko, Krauss, Holtmann; Hofmann, Masouras
Stuttgart possible starting lineup:
Nubel; Stergiou, Jeltsch, Chabot, Hendriks; Karazor, Millot; Leweling, Fuhrich, Woltemade; Demirovic
We say: VfL Bochum 1-2 Stuttgart
Neither side have been firing on all cylinders in the Bundesliga in recent weeks, but Stuttgart's semi-final cup win in midweek has given them a much-needed morale boost and they will be regarded as favourites to come out on top against a Bochum side who will likely find it difficult to keep Die Roten quiet in the final third.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
