Borussia Dortmund are looking to keep their top four hopes alive as they travel to the Mercedes Benz arena for a German Bundesliga clash against Stuttgart. Dortmund have struggled in recent weeks and should find things difficult against an in-form Stuttgart also looking to secure a European finish.
Dortmund suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt last time out in the Bundesliga with Mats Hummels getting their only goal. They followed that up with another 2-1 defeat to Manchester City in their UEFA Champions League quarter final first leg.
Edin Terzic’s men are low on confidence at the moment and their season appears to be unravelling. They have claimed just three wins in their last seven matches and are now seven points off the pace in the race for Champions League football.
Dortmund also have a poor record on the road in recent weeks with four defeats in their last six away matches in the Bundesliga. One of the problems is a leaky defence, suffering 4-2 defeats to Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayern Munich in that run while they also needed a late Erling Haaland strike to salvage a 2-2 draw with struggling Cologne in their last away fixture.
Stuttgart are coming off a 1-0 victory over Werder Bremen last time out in the Bundesliga. Ludwig Augustinsson’s own goal late in the second half proved to be the difference in a closely fought encounter.
Pellegrino Matarazzo's men have been on the rise in recent weeks with a 4-0 loss at Bayern Munich their only defeat in the last six matches. They have claimed four wins in that run and are now just four points behind Bayer Leverkusen in the final Europa League spot.
Stuttgart often do their best work at home where they have won four of their last five matches. Like Dortmund, they are not particularly convincing at the back but their quality in attack often gives them the extra edge with a 5-1 victory against Schalke among their recent home results.
How the bookies view it
Despite their recent struggles, Dortmund are still considered favourites among the bookies with novibet offering 43/50 for an away win. A win for Stuttgart is valued at 16/5 by betway while BetVictor has a draw at odds of 3/1.
With Stuttgart often impressive at the Mercedes Benz Arena and Dortmund low on confidence at the moment, I am tempted to lean towards a home win here.
Head to head
Stuttgart have a slight edge in this fixture with 40 wins from 102 previous matches. Dortmund have claimed 38 victories while there have been 24 draws between both teams.
Stuttgart ran out 5-1 winners in the reverse fixture at the Signal Iduna Park.
Players to watch
Striker Sasa Kalajdzic is having a breakout season for Stuttgart and has scored 13 goals in the Bundesliga. He will be hoping to add to his tally on Saturday and is priced at 14/10 in the anytime goalscorer market.
Erling Haaland is going through a mini drought but remains the biggest attacking threat for Dortmund. The Norwegian striker has 21 goals this season and is priced at 4/6 by betfair to score anytime while the first goal is set at odds of 45/17 by SBK.
Anything else catch the eye?
Both teams produced over 4.5 goals in the reverse fixture and a similar outcome is priced at 3/1 by Paddy Power. Over 3.5 goals is valued at 27/20 by novibet while over 2.5 goals is set at odds of 11/20 by the same firm.
Stuttgart and Dortmund often get much of their goals after the break so backing both teams to score in the second half might provide some reward at 13/8 with bet365.
This German Bundesliga match between VFB Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund will be played on Apr 10, 2021 and kick off at 18:30. Check below for our tipsters best VFB Stuttgart vs Borussia Dortmund prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
I love this site