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VfB Stuttgart welcome Borussia Dortmund to the Mercedes-Benz Arena in their upcoming Bundesliga fixture on Saturday.
The hosts have three wins in their last five league outings and bounced back well from their 4-0 thumping by Bayern Munich with a 1-0 win over Werder Bremen last week.
Dortmund have suffered two back-to-back 2-1 defeats in their last 2 outings. The first one was against Eintracht Frankfurt in Bundesliga last week while the second one was against Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Just four points separate the two sides in the league standings, with Dortmund in fifth place with 43 points and Stuttgart in eighth spot with 39 points.
Stuttgart vs Borussia Dortmund Head-to-Head
There have been 109 meetings between the two sides to date. Though one would expect the North Rhine club to have a superior record in this fixture, they have been evenly matched in their encounters so far.
Die Borussen have 43 wins to their name while Die Schwaben have recorded 42 wins. 24 games have also ended in a draw.
They last met at the Westfalenstadion in December, the first game between the two since 2019. Stuttgart recorded a massive 5-1 win in the reverse fixture.
Stuttgart form guide in Bundesliga: W-L-W-D-W
Borussia Dortmund form guide across all competitions: L-L-D-W-D
Stuttgart vs Borussia Dortmund Team News
Stuttgart
For Stuttgart, Nicolás González and Orel Mangala are ruled out with thigh injuries while Silas Wamangituka is out for the remainder of the season following an ACL tear.
Lilian Egloff needs some more time before he can rejoin the squad. Hamadi Al Ghaddioui is back in training but faces a late fitness test ahead of the game. Clinton Mola is a doubt.
Injured: Nicolás González, Orel Mangala, Silas Wamangituka, Lilian Egloff
Doubtful: Hamadi Al Ghaddioui, Clinton Mola
Suspended: None
Borussia Dortmund
The visitors have a lengthy injury list and some of the key squad members are ruled out. Youssoufa Moukoko is ruled out for the rest of the season while Jadon Sancho has missed the last five games due to a thigh injury.
Veteran defender Marcel Schmelzer is sidelined with a knee injury while Axel Witsel is also a casualty for the rest of the season due to a torn ACL. Dan-Axel Zagadou is another player ruled out for the rest of the campaign after knee surgery.
Injured: Youssoufa Moukoko, Jadon Sancho, Marcel Schmelzer, Axel Witsel, Dan-Axel Zagadou
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Stuttgart vs Borussia Dortmund Predicted XI
Stuttgart Predicted XI (3-4-2-1): Gregor Kobel; Konstantinos Mavropanos, Waldemar Anton, Marc-Oliver Kempf; Pascal Stenzel, Naouirou Ahamada, Wataru Endo, Philipp Forster; Gonzalo Castro, Tanguy Coulibaly; Sasa Kalajdzic
Borussia Dortmund Predicted XI (4-1-4-1): Marwin Hitz; Emre Can, Manuel Akanji, Mats Hummels, Raphael Guerreiro; Thomas Delaney; Thorgan Hazard, Jude Bellingham, Julian Brandt, Marco Reus; Erling Braut Haaland
Stuttgart vs Borussia Dortmund Prediction
Dortmund would be looking to avenge their 5-1 home defeat when they travel to Stuttgart on Saturday. Though a lengthy injury list could make this task a bit difficult.
The hosts have been in better form in recent fixtures having kept two clean sheets and scoring nine goals in their last five outings.
We believe the hosts could record a league double over Dortmund for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign.
Prediction: Stuttgart 2-1 Borussia Dortmund.
