Stuttgart take on Union Berlin in the Bundesliga on Tuesday, with both sides full of confidence after recording surprise results at the weekend.
Stuttgart thrashed Borussia Dortmund 5-1 at the Westfalenstadion, while Union Berlin held European champions Bayern Munich to a 1-1 draw.
Match preview
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Stuttgart have performed above expectations all season after gaining promotion last season, but few could have seen the margin of their victory at Dortmund coming.
Silas Wamangituka's penalty opened the scoring for the visitors, before Giovanni Reyna levelled proceedings heading into the break. However, Pellegrino Matarazzo's side ran riot in the second half, with Wamangituka bagging a brace before Philipp Forster, Tanguy Coulibaly and Nicolas Gonzalez embarrassed Lucien Favre's side.
Strangely, Stuttgart have performed much better on the road so far this season, remaining unbeaten with a hugely impressive 14 points from their six away games, actually failing to win any of their five home matches.
Matarazzo will certainly be hoping his side can break their duck at the Mercendes-Benz Arena on Tuesday, with a win taking them above their opponents and into the top six in the table.
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Union Berlin are the Bundesliga's other main overachievers so far this campaign, with Urs Fischer's side sitting in sixth place after 11 games in only their second ever top flight campaign.
Despite missing top goalscorer Max Kruse through injury and key midfielder Robert Andrich after his sending-off in the Berlin derby defeat, Union Berlin surprisingly held Bayern to a draw on Saturday.
Grischa Promel opened the scoring for the hosts in only the fourth minute, with Robert Lewandowski earning the Bavarians a point with a second-half strike.
While Bayern had much of the possession as was expected, Union Berlin matched Hansi Flick's tally of five shots on target, suggesting that it was a fully-deserved point in the end. Fischer and his players will take confidence from the fact they can compete with one of the best sides in Europe despite missing their most talented player in Kruse.
Stuttgart Bundesliga form: DDDLWW
Union Berlin Bundesliga form: WWWDLD
Team News
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Stuttgart's efforts this season are all the more impressive given the amount of injury issues they have had, with Atakan Karazor (knee), Erik Thommy (elbow), Momo Cisse (muscle), Hamadi Al Ghaddioui (groin), Maxime Awoudja, Daniel Didavi and Clinton Mola (all fitness) all unavailable for the visit of Union Berlin.
However, Gonzalez's return from the bench against Dortmund was a huge boost, with the Argentine forward in line for a return to the starting XI.
Union Berlin, meanwhile, will be without key player Kruse once again after the attacking midfielder tore a muscle last week.
Andrich returns from suspension, but Joel Pohjanpolo (ankle) and Anthony Ujah (knee) will not make the trip to Stuttgart.
Stuttgart possible starting lineup:
Kobel; Mavropanos, Anton, Kempf; Wamangituka, Castro, Endo, Mangala, Forster; Coulibaly, Gonzalez
Union Berlin possible starting lineup:
Luthe; Trimmel, Friedrich, Knoche, Lenz; Promel, Andrich; Becker, Ingvartsen, Bulter; Awoniyi
We say: Stuttgart 1-1 Union Berlin
Union Berlin showed against Bayern that they are far from a one-man team, so we can envisage them picking up a positive result at a Stuttgart side who have failed to win any of their five home games this season.
The likes of Gonzalez, Gonzalo Castro and Wamangituka may have other ideas, though, with the hosts certainly boasting more attacking firepower.
Top betting tip
Brett Curtis
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Stuttgart win with a probability of 48.57%. A win for Union Berlin had a probability of 28.02% and a draw had a probability of 23.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Stuttgart win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.47%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.41%) and 2-0 (7.39%). The likeliest Union Berlin win was 1-2 (6.92%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.78%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 6.1% likelihood.
