Mainz vs. Stuttgart preview: VfB are fighting for their lives
Mainz need a win to have any chance at securing European football, while Stuttgart are badly craving an away result to complete another Bundesliga escape.
| Photo: Jeollo, Vfb-exklusiv.de, CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Mainz
Mainz’s dreams of European football are slowly starting to slip away. They need to win their final two games and hope that Leipzig can defeat Frankfurt in the DFB-Pokal. Also, Gladbach would likely have to get a result against Leverkusen on Sunday.
It’s still been a very encouraging 2023 for Die Nullfünfer, despite falling out form and losing their last three games. The physical front three of Ludovic Ajorque, Karim Onisiwo, and Marcus Ingvartsen will be licking their chops against a gettable Stuttgart defense this weekend.
Bo Svensson stated, "We've had a full week to speak about certain things so that we can improve on our performances. - We want to finish the season on a high and go into the summer break on the back of some positive results."
Team News
Silvan Widmer and Jonathan Burkardt are out, while Robin Zentner and Dominik Kohr are doubts. Alexander Hack is out and Andreas Hanche-Olsen has to serve a yellow-card suspension.
In other news, it was announced this week that Finn Dahmen and Aaron Martin will leave the club in the summer.
Stuttgart
Despite improved play under Sebastian Hoeneß, Stuttgart sit in 17th place entering Matchday 33. With a win however, they can jump both Schalke and Bochum to narrowly move out of the relegation zone into 15th.
Serhou Guirassy has scored in each of their last three league matches and will be the key man again up front. Stuttgart can’t afford to drop more points before their massive home contest to end the season against Hoffenheim.
In his presser, Hoeneß said, “We're not giving any thought to any kind of permutations. - We're going there to get all three points. I'm certain that the team is well prepared for what to expect on Sunday.”
Team News
Josha Vagnoman, Fabian Bredlow, and Florian Müller are all expected to be squad selections despite missing some training this week. Luckily, Konstantinos Mavropanos is fit once again, but Thomas Kastanaras is out.