Preview: VfL Bochum vs. Stuttgart - prediction, team news, lineups

The visitors have taken only one point from their last five games to fall to the bottom of the table, while Bochum are unbeaten in three games.

Match preview

Having beaten FC Koln and RB Leipzig in their previous two matches to climb out of the relegation places, Bochum travelled to Eintracht Frankfurt last Friday evening with plenty of confidence of recording an upset.

While they may have fallen short of claiming all three points, Thomas Letsch would have been delighted to see his side earn a highly creditable 1-1 draw against last season's Europa League winners, with Takuma Asano's 13th-minute strike providing them with a strong foothold in the match.

Despite only having 27% possession of the ball and two shots on target - including Asano's opener - Bochum managed to hold onto a vital point, with Frankfurt unable to turn any of their 18 shots in open play into a crucial breakthrough after Randal Kolo Muani had equalised from the penalty spot.

Having lost their opening six games of the campaign before sacking Thomas Reis last September, very few people would have given Bochum much of a chance of surviving this season, so for Letsch to have moved them four points clear of danger with eight games remaining represents a major achievement already.

However, the 54-year-old will be keen not to rest on his laurels, with the primary job of avoiding relegation far from complete yet. Both he and his players will recognise that Sunday's game against Stuttgart at Vonovia-Ruhrstadion represents an excellent opportunity to put clear distance between themselves and a rival at the bottom of the table.

Indeed, defeat in Bochum would leave Stuttgart nine points adrift of their opponents, which would surely be a gap too large to recover from at this stage of the campaign.

While the likes of Schalke 04, Hertha Berlin and Hoffenheim in between these two sides in the table may still be catchable for Stuttgart regardless of their result on Sunday, Die Roten must turn around their desperate form sooner or later if they are to remain in the Bundesliga.

The club's hierarchy unsurprisingly moved swiftly to sack Bruno Labbadia after their comprehensive 3-0 defeat away to Union Berlin last weekend, with the 57-year-old's second spell at the club ending up being nothing short of disastrous after taking only six points from 11 league matches.

Former Hoffenheim boss Sebastian Hoeness has replaced Labbadia in Stuttgart's managerial dugout, immediately overseeing his new side's progression to the DFB-Pokal semi-finals with a 1-0 win away to second tier outfit Nuremberg on Wednesday.

However, the 40-year-old will be acutely aware that guiding Stuttgart to survival is of far higher importance than a cup competition, with Sunday's trip to Bochum surely a must-not-lose match even if it is not quite in the must-win category just yet.

VfL Bochum Bundesliga form:

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D

Stuttgart Bundesliga form:

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Stuttgart form (all competitions):

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Team News

Bochum will remain without Cristian Gamboa due to a knee injury, but Simon Zoller returned from his recent hamstring injury to feature from the bench against Frankfurt and he should be involved once more this weekend.

Letsch's only change from his team's draw against Oliver Glasner's side is likely to be replacing Dominique Heintz with Danilo Soares at left-back.

Stuttgart, meanwhile, appear to have a fully fit squad for Hoeness to select from, with Serhou Guirassy making his comeback from the bench in Nuremberg on Wednesday.

The Guinea international is likely to start in order to provide more pace and physicality in attack for the visitors, with Luca Pfeiffer expected to make way in what is likely to be Hoeness's only alteration from the cup victory in midweek.

VfL Bochum possible starting lineup:

Riemann; Stafylidis, Ordets, Masovic, Soares; Stoger, Losilla, Osterhage; Asano, Hofmann, Antwi-Adjei

Stuttgart possible starting lineup:

Bredlow; Mavropanos, Anton, Ito; Vagnoman, Endo, Karazor, Haraguchi, Sosa; Guirassy, Fuhrich

We say: VfL Bochum 1-1 Stuttgart

Prior to Labbadia's sacking, this match could have ended up being a routine victory for Bochum, but we expect Stuttgart's change in management to provide them with a timely boost as they look to move off the bottom of the table.

However, with the amount at stake in this match, we can easily envisage a share of the spoils between two evenly-matched teams desperately fighting to avoid relegation.

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