Preview: Borussia Monchengladbach vs. Stuttgart - prediction, team news, lineups

The visitors, meanwhile, have won two of their last three matches to move outside of the relegation places.

Match preview

After enjoying an excellent start to life under Daniel Farke's management, just one win in their last five league games has seen Gladbach drop into the bottom half of the table.

In fairness to the former Norwich City boss, his options have been crippled by a growing injury list in recent weeks, although that provides little excuse for their 2-1 defeat to second tier side Darmstadt in the second round of the DFB-Pokal a couple of weeks ago.

Losing to the league leaders Union Berlin away from home last weekend was more understandable, although having led until Kevin Behrens's 79th-minute equaliser, Die Fohlen clearly should have returned from the capital with a positive result to their name.

Indeed, it was strange to see a team led by Farke - who has generally favoured possession football throughout his fledgling managerial career - surrender the ball so frequently after Nico Elvedi had broken the deadlock 12 minutes before half-time, with Urs Fischer's side surprisingly enjoying a greater share of the possession.

The 46-year-old will be demanding that his players impose themselves to a far greater level at Borussia-Park on Friday, when a victory could take them as high as sixth in the table ahead of Saturday's action.

Having failed to win any of their opening 10 league games this season, two have arrived in quick succession like London buses for Stuttgart in recent weeks.

Interim manager Michael Wimmer, who was promoted from being assistant coach following the sacking of Pellegrino Matarazzo last month, will feel that he is laying down a claim for the permanent role following consecutive wins at the Mercedes-Benz Arena against potential relegation rivals VfL Bochum and Augsburg.

Admittedly there was a 5-0 thrashing away to Borussia Dortmund sandwiched in between those victories, but the 42-year-old appears to be setting up his team more effectively than his predecessor - certainly in terms of beating the sides around them in the table - having also defeated Arminia Bielefeld 6-0 in the second round of the DFB-Pokal.

Indeed, Die Schwaben showed great character to come from behind after Florian Niederlechner had provided Augsburg with an early lead after only four minutes, with Serhou Guirassy levelling the proceedings 11 minutes later.

Towards the end of Matarazzo's reign, Stuttgart would almost certainly have settled for a point. Losing games was not necessarily the major problem under the American; it was not winning them, but under Wimmer they are already showing more courage as they continued to push on for a winner, with Waldemar Anton's injury-time strike their 29th shot of the match having dominated possession with 63% of the ball.

Replicating that type of performance will be difficult - and most likely not even the intention - in Monchengladbach on Friday evening, but Wimmer will be increasingly confident that his side's improving performance levels are edging them ever closer to their first away win this season.

Borussia Monchengladbach Bundesliga form:

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Stuttgart Bundesliga form:

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Stuttgart form (all competitions):

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Team News

Gladbach will remain without club captain Yann Sommer, who is not expected to feature for the club again prior to the World Cup as he looks to recover from a torn ankle ligament in time to start for Switzerland in Qatar.

Florian Neuhaus could miss the rest of the season with an ACL injury, while Ramy Bensebaini, Stefan Lainer, Jonas Hofmann, Hannes Wolf and Ko Itakura are all unlikely to feature on Friday night.

Stuttgart, on the other hand, are only likely to travel without Josha Vagnoman and Enzo Millot due to muscle strains, with Wimmer otherwise having a full squad of players to select from.

The interim manager may restore former Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos to his back line after the Greece international missed last weekend's win against Augsburg with a minor muscle strain.

Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:

Sippel; Scally, Friedrich, Elvedi, Netz; Weigl, Kramer; Herrmann, Stindl, Plea; Thuram

Stuttgart possible starting lineup:

Muller; Mavropanos, Anton, Zagadou; Silas, Endo, Ahamada, Fuhrich, Sosa; Pfeiffer, Guirassy

We say: Borussia Monchengladbach 1-1 Stuttgart

In normal circumstances we would fancy Gladbach to win, but their injuries to some crucial players and Stuttgart's improving form in recent weeks makes a share of the spoils seem the likely outcome.

Both teams may be content with avoiding defeat given Farke's side's recent losses and the visitors' rotten away form this season.

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