Following the postponement of Friday night's fixture, this weekend's Bundesliga action will kick off on Saturday afternoon at Vonovia Ruhrstadion, where VfL Bochum will face off against Stuttgart.
The hosts are currently in 14th place in the league standings, with 17 points over the first half of the season, while the visitors are in third place with 34 points over the same period.
Match preview
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With seven points taken from a possible 15 on either side of the festive break, Bochum will head into Saturday's match six points clear of the drop zone and four shy of the teams in the top half of the league table.
Having navigated the first half of the campaign, the Blues will be searching for more stability in the second half of the season and will likely focus on finding ways of turning good performances into three points, having already drawn eight matches, which is the joint-most in the top flight.
Last week was a perfect example of Thomas Letsch's side's struggle to get over the line, as they were the better side in their match against Werder Bremen and looked set to earn a 1-0 victory but conceded in stoppage-time, which saw them miss out on what would have been just their fourth league win to date.
That outcome also highlighted Bochum's defensive struggles, as they are conceding two goals per match on average this season and have made a habit of squandering leads, failing to win four matches since October in which they had scored the opening goal.
Unfortunately for Letsch, his side now face an opponent that they have not managed to beat in their last 17 attempts, including 11 wins and six draws, dating all the way back to May 2005.
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Meanwhile, Stuttgart concluded the first half of the campaign as an unexpected Champions League contender, but less than a minute into their first match of 2024, the formidable challenge of maintaining a position in Europe's elite club competition became evident.
The Reds, without their star attacker Serhou Guirassy, were a goal down after just 21 seconds against Borussia Monchengladbach last weekend and slumped to a 3-1 defeat, which widened the gap between themselves and second-placed Bayern Munich to seven points.
Sebastian Hoeness's side were let off the hook for that loss, with Leipzig losing at home to Eintracht Frankfurt, but Borussia Dortmund's win over Darmstadt has turned up the heat in the race for the top four.
Keeping ahold of their Champions League qualification spot will require them to improve their recent away performances, though. With the exception of a 2-1 victory against Eintracht Frankfurt on November 25, Stuttgart have suffered defeats in three of their last four Bundesliga away matches.
Team News
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Ivan Ordets (hip) and Michael Esser (knee) will miss Saturday's match with injuries, while Mohammed Tolba has been flagged as a doubt due to a lack of match fitness.
Cristian Gamboa received his fifth yellow card of the season last week and will be suspended for this match, while Takuma Asano is representing Japan at the ongoing Asian Cup.
While Guirassy is away at the Africa Cup of Nations, Hoeness will undoubtedly be keeping tabs on the Guinea international, who missed the National Elephants' opening match of the competition due to a hamstring strain.
Lilian Egloff is facing an extended spell on the sideline owing to a torn lateral knee ligament and Nikolas Nartey is a doubt for this match. Woo-yeong Jeong, Hiroki Ito and Silas are are away on international duty.
VfL Bochum possible starting lineup:
Riemann; Passlack, Masovic, Schlotterbeck, Bernardo; Osterhage, Losilla, Stoger; Antwi-Adjej, Paciencia, Hofmann
Stuttgart possible starting lineup:
Nubel; Stenzel, Anton, Zagadou, Mittelstadt; Stiller, Karazor; Leweling, Millot, Fuhrich; Undav
We say: VfL Bochum 1-2 Stuttgart
Despite their relatively lowly league position this season, Bochum are unbeaten in their last five home league games and have scored in all eight of their games at Vonovia Ruhrstadion. However, they have struggled to keep goals out, with just one clean sheet over that period, and we feel that Stuttgart will capitalise on their opponent's defensive frailties to take the points in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Devesh Jaganath
