Bayern Munich vs. Stuttgart preview: Can the champions return to winning ways?
After drawing their last two Bundesliga games, Bayern Munich will attempt to clinch three points when they face Stuttgart on Saturday, with the visitors looking to win for the first time in the league this season.
| Photo: Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Bayern Munich
After Bayern claimed a 2-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday, they will return to Bundesliga action this weekend.
Surprisingly, the Bavarians have failed to win their last two league matches. A Yann Sommer masterclass helped Borussia Mönchengladbach hold the German champions to a 1-1 draw before that scoreline was replicated last weekend when Bayern travelled to the capital to face Union Berlin.
Sheraldo Becker opened the scoring in the 12th minute, and although Joshua Kimmich levelled the encounter only three minutes later, Julian Nagelsmann's side could not find a winner in the remainder of the contest.
As a result of failing to win their last two league matches, Bayern find themselves in the unfamiliar position of being in third place in the Bundesliga, with one point separating them from the top two of Freiburg and Borussia Dortmund.
Despite being held to a draw by Gladbach in their most recent home encounter, Bayern still have the chance to extend their unbeaten home run in the Bundesliga to 10 matches.
Team News
Kingsley Coman is Bayern's only injury absentee for Saturday's contest, although Nagelsmann has stated he will rotate the squad ahead of next week's Champions League meeting with Barcelona. As a result, Leroy Sane will be rested, while Leon Goretzka will make his first start of the season.
Stuttgart
Having failed to win any of their opening five league games this season, there will be a sense of trepidation amongst the Stuttgart squad ahead of an away meeting with the Champions.
Although, rather than defeats, a series of draws have hampered Stuttgart's progress in the early stages of the 2022-23 campaign. In fact, four of their five league matches have ended all square, including their last two outings.
After playing out a goalless draw with FC Köln, Pellegrino Matarazzo's side took the lead in their home encounter with Schalke 04 last weekend. However, within three minutes of Chris Führich's opener, Stuttgart were pegged back by Simon Terodde, who scored what proved to be the game's final goal in the 21st minute.
Stuttgart will now turn their attention to Saturday's contest where they will be looking to avoid a six-game winless start to a Bundesliga season for the first time in the club's history.
However, hopes of upsetting the champions may be slim as Stuttgart are winless in their previous 12 Bundesliga away matches.
Team News
Luca Pfeiffer and Josha Vagnoman are both suspended for the visitors, while they are also without the services of Laurin Ulrich, Nikolas Nartey and Tanguy Coulibaly due to injury issues.