An intriguing battle will take place towards the top of the table in the Bundesliga on Saturday as Stuttgart will host RB Leipzig.
It is a battle of third vs fourth place as just one point separates the two teams.
Stuttgart began this season in surprisingly outstanding form and were set for a shock title charge however in recent weeks this seems to have faded away as they have won just one of their last five matches.
After their loss against Bochum they now just about sit above Leipzig and Dortmund who are both one point behind. Sebastian Hoeneß’s side do have a good home record though, scoring 26 times so far but he is clearly missing players that are away on international duty, especially top scorer Serhou Guirassy.
RB Leipzig are also coming off the back of a disappointing loss, having lead twice in the match against league leaders Bayer Leverkusen and then going on to lose the match 3-2.
This is an important game for Marco Rose’s side as they have the opportunity to go third in the table and must also avoid Borussia Dortmund taking their place in the top four.
Leipzig have the more successful history in this fixture having won nine out of the last ten meetings.
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Serhou Guirassy, Silas, Hiroki Ito and Jeong Woo-yeong are all still currently on international duty whilst Stuttgart will also be without Lilian Egloff and Nikolas Nartey as are also ruled out with knee injuries.
Atakan Karazor will also be unavailable as he is suspended.
For Leipzig, Willi Orban has been back in training but remains a doubt to play the match. Amadou Haidara also continues to be away on international duty at the African cup of nations with Mali.
A big miss for Leipzig at the weekend though will be the absence of Xavi Simons who is suspended after picking up a fifth yellow card last weekend. Christoph Baumgartner is likely to take his place.
GGFN | Matthew Gritton
