Stuttgart v RB Leipzig – Mercedes-Benz Arena at 14:30 GMT
It’s been a tumultuous week at Stuttgart. The Swabians were swatted aside 3-0 by Fortuna Dusseldorf last weekend to entrench the club further into the relegation mire and sporting director Michael Reschke was then fired in the following 48 hours with Thomas Hitzlsperger taking up the position.
Despite intense speculation and last weekend’s abject effort, head coach Markus Weinzierl kept his job with Die Roten, who’ve now taken a solitary point from a possible 18 (W0-D1-L5). Hitzlsperger, who had been in charge of Stuttgart’s academy and on the club’s board said, “It’s not a hopeless venture”.
The priority is obviously to keep VFB in the Bundesliga and an improvement in defence is certainly an area that will require looking at. Stuttgart have conceded 47 league goals – a divisional high – whilst key players Mario Gomez, Christian Gentner and Holger Badstuber are out of form.
Restoring confidence in the camp won’t be easy and the Swabians face a mightily tough first fixture under the new regime this weekend as RB Leipzig arrive at the Mercedes-Benz arena. And there’s no way the high-flying guests should be available to back at odds as big as 1.85 on Saturday.
Leipzig can pile more misery on Stuttgart
Currently occupying the fourth and final Champions League qualification position, RB have found their feet following a disappointing defeat to Dortmund when returning to Bundesliga action in 2019.
Ralf Rangnick’s troops have recorded three successive clean sheets and smashed both Dusseldorf and Hannover on their travels in that same sequence. Exclude the top-seven and RB Leipzig have W9-D3-L1 against the rest of the division, notching at least two goals on nine occasions.
Performance data marks the visitors out as the second-best team in Germany across the 2018/19 campaign and they should have plenty of joy when arriving in Stuttgart considering the Swabians give up the second-most shots in the box, and Expected Goals (xG) per-game this term.
Eight of Leipzig’s 11 league victories under Rangnick’s charge have been achieved by a margin of two goals or more, making the -0.75 Asian Handicap an attractive play, but with 1.85 available on the standard -0.50 hurdle, it’s an angle that’s just waiting to be exploited.
Asian Handicap Betting Recommendation: RB Leipzig -0.50 at 1.850
Preview by: @MarkOHaire.
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