RB Leipzig vs Stuttgart

Red Bull Arena is the venue as RB Leipzig look to return to winning ways in the Bundesliga against high-flying Stuttgart.

Leipzig’s poor form from the tail-end of last season continued in the early stage of 2020/21, with a dismal 1-0 away loss to Mainz 05 on Matchday 1 extending their winless Bunudesliga streak to four (D1, L3). Jesse Marsch will be desperate to forget his competitive debut at Leipzig as quickly as possible as his side stare at the prospect of setting their longest-ever winless run since securing top-flight football in 2016/17. Keen to avoid such a scenario, Marsch will turn to the privilege of playing on home turf, where Leipzig recorded an impressive win/draw ratio of 88.24% last season (W11, D4, L2). Although they conceded a league-low 13 goals at home in 2020/21, a return of 29 goals scored at the Red Bull Arena meant no other top-ten side netted fewer home goals than Leipzig.

Meanwhile, Stuttgart’s 5-1 thrashing of newly-promoted Greuther Fürth on the opening matchday has given them a chance to start the new Bundesliga season with back-to-back triumphs for the first time since 1996/97. However, the visitors will have to defy their Red Bull Arena hoodoo to post consecutive victories, having never defeated Leipzig in a top-flight H2H there (D1, L5). Interestingly, after recording their biggest Bundesliga victory in the 21st century, Stuttgart head into proceedings sitting top of the table for the first time since August 2011. Bringing their 6-0 thumping of BFC Dynamo into the equation, ‘Die Roten’ have netted 2+ goals in two straight competitive fixtures – they have never done so three times in a row previously. That said, Pellegrino Matarazzo’s men failed to find the net before half-time in their final seven Bundesliga trips to conclude last season (W2, D1, L4).