Preview: Stuttgart vs. Werder Bremen - prediction, team news, lineups

Stuttgart take on Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga on Sunday, with the visitors looking to build momentum ahead of their DFB-Pokal quarter-final match in midweek.

The hosts, meanwhile, must avoid defeat to guarantee remaining in the top half of the table.

Match preview

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Having remained unbeaten in their previous five matches, Stuttgart visited Bayern Munich with quiet optimism of gaining a positive result against the league leaders.

That would only have grown after Alphonso Davies was sent off after only 12 minutes for tackling over the top of the ball, but what transpired in the remainder of the first half would almost certainly have left Pellegrino Matarazzo enraged.

Robert Lewandowski stabbed home from Serge Gnabry's cross to open the scoring five minutes after Davies's dismissal, with Gnabry capping a fine team move to double the hosts' lead.

Lewandowski subsequently rose highest to head home from Thomas Muller's superb cross before completing a first-half hat-trick to leave Stuttgart four goals behind despite enjoying a man advantage.

Sasa Kalajdzic was denied the chance to extend his incredible goalscoring run by a fine Manuel Neuer stop, but Stuttgart understandably looked frazzled after a disastrous 25-minute spell left them wholly embarrassed, with further damage sustained in the shape of Silas Wamangituka's serious knee injury.

Regardless, Matarazzo will be demanding a positive reaction against a Bremen side currently six points behind them in the table.

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Bremen, meanwhile, will view Stuttgart as the most winnable match in a run of extremely tough fixtures having recently lost to Bayern and Wolfsburg, with RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund next in store for them in the Bundesliga.

Florian Kohfeldt's side narrowly lost 2-1 to the Wolves last time out prior to the international break, with Joshua Sargent's early own goal leaving them chasing the match from the eighth minute.

Wout Weghorst coolly slotted home for his 50th Bundesliga strike to double Oliver Glasner's side's lead, before Kevin Mohwald gave the hosts hope moments before the half-time interval.

However, Wolfsburg boast the second-strongest defensive record in the Bundesliga, and proved tough cookies to crack in a quiet second half. Kohfeldt may now be switching his attention to Wednesday's DFB-Pokal quarter-final match against Jahn Regensburg, with Bremen looking to win their seventh German domestic cup.

Having survived relegation via a playoff against Heidenheim last season, the 38-year-old may also have one eye on the gap between his side and the relegation zone being reduced to seven points, but realistically his side should be fine in that sense.

Team News

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Wamangituka has been ruled out for the rest of the season and potentially the start of next after sustaining an ACL injury in the defeat to Bayern.

Orel Mangala, Hamadi Al Ghaddioui, Clinton Mola and Lilian Egloff should all return to first-team action at some point in April if called upon, but Saturday's match against Bremen is likely to come too soon for each of them.

Nicolas Gonzalez returned from injury to feature from the bench against Bayern, though, and may receive a start should Matarazzo be confident in the Argentine's fitness.

Bremen, meanwhile, will travel without Sargent after the forward picked up his fifth booking of the season against Wolfsburg, in what proved to be a defeat for him in particular to forget having also scored an own goal.

Niclas Fullkrug will likely receive a recall to the starting XI in the American's place.

Milos Veljkovic and Luca Plogmann will both miss out with groin and knee injuries respectively.

Stuttgart possible starting lineup:
Kobel; Mavropanos, Anton, Kempf; Coulibaly, Castro, Endo, Sosa; Gonzalez, Forster; Kalajdzic

Werder Bremen possible starting lineup:
Pavlenka; Gross, Toprak, Friedl; Gebre Selassie, Mohwald, Eggestein, Augustinsson; Bittencourt, Rashica; Fullkrug

We say: Stuttgart 1-1 Werder Bremen

Both sides have drawn nine times in the league this season, so it would be no surprise to see those tallies both move into double figures in what is likely to prove an even contest.

Stuttgart could lack an explosive edge without the injured Wamangituka, especially with Bremen often proving a tough defensive unit to break down.