Stuttgart vs. Augsburg preview: Hosts hoping to continue impressive home form
Stuttgart will look to extend their unbeaten home run to six competitive matches when they play host to Augsburg on Wednesday.
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Stuttgart
Having enjoyed significant success this season, Stuttgart were given a reality check in Saturday’s away clash with Bayern Munich. A Harry Kane brace and a Kim Min-jae effort condemned Stuttgart to a 3-0 defeat at the Allianz Arena, which brought an end to a five-game unbeaten run.
Despite dropping down from third to fourth position, die Schwaben still boast a handy four-point cushion over fifth-placed Dortmund. Stuttgart have the chance to extend that gap to seven points after Dortmund were held to a 1-1 draw by Mainz in Tuesday’s contest.
After seeing his side win six of their eight home league games this season (D1, L1), Sebastian Hoeness will certainly be confident about his team’s chances of recording a victory on Wednesday. Stuttgart will also draw inspiration from the fact they have their last four home game against Bundesliga, including a 2-1 win in last season’s meeting at the MHP Arena.
Team News
The hosts are expected to be without Hiroki Ito, Lilian Egloff, Thomas Kastanaras and Nikolas Nartey.
Augsburg
Augsburg bounced back from a defeat to Werder Bremen to take a point off Borussia Dortmund in Saturday’s home fixture. Ermedin Demirović opened the scoring for the Fuggerstädter, before Donyell Malen pulled his side level in the 35th minute. Despite seeing their narrow lead wiped out, Augsburg stood firm for the remainder of the contest to hold Dortmund to a 1-1 draw.
Having lost just one of their last eight league matches (W3, D4), Augsburg head into Wednesday’s contest in 10th position and six points adrift of the top six.
If Augsburg are to mount a surprise push for the European places, they will need to improve on the road, having won just one of their seven away league matches this term (D2, L4). If they are to claim all three points on Wednesday, they will need to beat Stuttgart in an away meeting for the first time since November 2015.
Team News
Raphael Framberger and Reece Oxford will miss out due to illness and injury respectively, while there are also doubts over Iago’s availability.