Werder Bremen vs Stuttgart

Weserstadion is the venue as Werder Bremen kickstart a new Bundesliga home campaign after a season-long absence against last season’s relegation fighters Stuttgart.

Werder Bremen came agonisingly close to marking their return to the Bundesliga with an away victory, yet Wolfsburg’s last-gasp equaliser on matchday one held them to a 2-2 draw. ‘Die Werderaner’ have been fun to watch early in the season, with a hard-earned 2-1 win over third-tier Energie Cottbus in the opening DFB-Pokal round also seeing them concede beyond the 75th minute. Werder wouldn’t mind a tighter affair for a change, especially if it allows them to avoid another H2H defeat that would see them lose three successive Bundesliga matches to Stuttgart for the first time since 1980. The abovementioned draw with Wolfsburg extended Werder’s underwhelming winless Bundesliga run to 11 matches (D2, L9) spanning across multiple seasons. So Ole Werner’s side will be out to arrest the longest ongoing winless streak in the Bundesliga.

On the other hand, Stuttgart, who had a superior H2H record to Hertha BSC to thank for avoiding playing in the relegation playoffs last season, hit back to hold RB Leipzig to a 1-1 home draw on the opening Bundesliga weekend. That stalemated combined with a narrow 1-0 victory over third-tier Dynamo Dresden in the maiden DFB-Pokal round means ‘Die Schwaben’ will be looking to keep things tight on both ends of the pitch this term. Their unbeaten start to the season is likely to go on, as Pellegrino Matarazzo’s men haven’t lost any of their last five Bundesliga games against Werder (W4, D1). However, it’s worth noting that Stuttgart went winless across their final ten top-flight travels down the final stretch of last season (D5, L5), their longest winless streak on the road since returning to Germany’s top flight.