VfB Stuttgart welcome Borussia Dortmund to Mercedes-Benz Arena on Saturday, with just four points separating the two sides in the Bundesliga table.
Eighth-place Stuttgart currently sit level with seventh-place Union Berlin and ninth-place Borussia Monchengladbach on 39 points.
Meanwhile, fifth-place Borussia Dortmund sit four points ahead – seven points behind fourth-place Eintracht Frankfurt.
Following promotion from the second-tier last year, Stuttgart’s season has been built on a strong home record.
In fact, Stuttgart are unbeaten in their last six home games in the Bundesliga and have won each of their last three home games in all competitions.
Having suffered five defeats in eight games between late December and early February, things weren’t looking good for Stuttgart earlier in the campaign.
However, they have since lost just one of their previous seven Bundesliga outings – and the defeat came against defending champions Bayern Munich.
It is also worth noting that only three teams have scored more goals than Stuttgart in the Bundesliga this season.
On the other hand, Borussia Dortmund have only managed to win one of their last Bundesliga matches, picking up one draw and two defeats along the way.
Dortmund also suffered a midweek defeat to Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-finals, losing 2-1 to the EPL champions-elect.
Following a 2-1 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt last week, Dortmund’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League are now hanging by a threat.
Dortmund can take confidence from the fact that they have scored a least one goal in each of their last 38 outings in all competitions.
Still, they will no doubt be eager to avoid a repeat of their previous meeting with Stuttgart, which ended in a thrashing.
Head-to-head: Let’s not forget that Stuttgart crushed Dortmund 5-1 at Signal Iduna Park in the reverse fixture back in December.
Dortmund had won each of their three games against Stuttgart leading up to December’s meeting, but they were humiliated last time around.
Team news: Stuttgart have a length injury list at the moment, with Silas Wamangituka, Orel Mangala, Nicolas Gonzalez, Lilian Egloss and Clinton Mola all currently sidelined.
On the flip side, Dortmund will be without Axel Witsel, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Jadon Sancho and Marcel Schmelzer this weekend.
Given that each of the last three meetings between Stuttgart and Dortmund have produced over 3.5 goals, we are set for another high-scoring encounter.
Forebet predicts that Stuttgart will hold Dortmund to a draw on Saturday, with both sides netting over 1.5 goals.