Stuttgart will be hoping to move to the top of the table when they host SV Darmstadt 98 in the Bundesliga. The home team is going for their third straight league victory, while the visitors are still looking for their first top-flight triumph of the new season.
Preview (Stuttgart vs. SV Darmstadt 98)
Stuttgart has made an amazing start to the current Bundesliga season after narrowly avoiding relegation the previous year. They have won three of their first four games while scoring a league-high 14 goals. In-form striker Serhou Guirassy, who has scored eight of those goals, followed up goals against VfL Bochum, RB Leipzig, and Freiburg with a magnificent hat-trick in a 3-1 away victory against Mainz 05 last weekend.
If Stuttgart defeats Darmstadt on Friday, they will go to the top of the table and reach 12 points. That would be just over a third of their previous season’s total of 33 points. Stuttgart have made a commendable start to the season. They have done so despite selling key players like Wataru Endo, Konstantinos Mavropanos, and Borna Sosa in the summer. They have undoubtedly enjoyed playing in front of their home crowd this season. Wins over Bochum and Freiburg by scores of 5-0 in their first two matches at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
However, Die Roten lost their most recent home match against Darmstadt 3-1 in June 2020, when both groups were in the second division. While Stuttgart is dominating the Bundesliga’s right side of the standings, Darmstadt has struggled to adjust to life in the top division after winning promotion from the second division last season, earning just one point from their first four games. Darmstadt appeared to be on track to earn their first victory of the season last weekend when they were leading 3-0 at halftime against Borussia Monchengladbach thanks to goals from Marvin Mehlem, Matej Maglica, and Tim Skarke. Darmstadt had dropped each of their first three games to Eintracht Frankfurt, Union Berlin, and Bayer Leverkusen.
Team News
Joshua Vagnoman (foot) and Nikolas Nartey (knee) will be out for Stuttgart due to injuries. Woo-Yeong Jeong is still overseas representing South Korea at the Asian Games. Hiroki Ito is expected to stay at left-back and join Waldemar Anton, Dan-Axel Zagadou, and Pascal Stenzel. Atakan Karazor, Angelo Stiller, and Enzo Millot all play in midfield. Hoeness is unlikely to make many changes to his starting lineup, if any. Deniz Undav earned his Stuttgart debut last time out as a late replacement.
Due to a thigh injury, Darmstadt will be without Fabio Torsiello and the suspended Maglica. Fraser Hornby (thigh), Christoph Zimmermann (back), Matthias Bader (knock), Oscar Vilhelmsson (illness), and Braydon Manu (tonsillitis) are also questionable but will be evaluated before kickoff. In Maglica’s absence, Christoph Klarer and midfielder Klaus Gjasula might remain in the back three. Either Thomas Isherwood or Clemens Riedel might be called up to the starting eleven.
Mehlem, who has two of Darmstadt’s five Bundesliga goals this season, is anticipated to stay in the center of the field alongside Fabian Holland, Tobias Kempe, and either Bartol Franjic or Franjic, while Filip Stojilkovic will compete with Luca Pfeiffer, a loanee from Stuttgart who is available to face his parent club, for a spot up front alongside Skarke. Stuttgart has every reason to be confident that they can win all three points on Friday. We anticipate the in-form hosts to secure a comfortable victory this time around. Darmstadt knows what it takes to beat Die Roten on the road after winning on their last visit.
Stuttgart 3 – 1 SV Darmstadt 98
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