Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt return from the international break in Germany hoping to end their winless streaks when they meet at the Mercedes Benz Arena on Saturday.
The hosts' poor run of form leaves them in the relegation places heading into the weekend, whilst the visitors have dropped out of the European places following struggles of their own.
Match preview
Most games between now and the end of the season will feel like cup finals for Stuttgart, with Saturday's hosts finding themselves in 17th spot and three points from complete safety ahead of matchday 21.
Die Roten boss Pellegrino Matarazzo will be hoping that the international break has given his side the chance to find a solution to not only their worrying run of form ahead of the business end of the campaign, but also their goalscoring woes.
Not only are Stuttgart winless in their past five games, four of which have ended in defeat, but each fixture has seen them fail to find the back of the net as well.
Last season's top goalscorer Sasa Kalajdzic has returned to fitness at the beginning of the New Year, but even the towering Austrian's presence has failed to provide a spark in the final third for the relegation-threatened side.
With 14 games left to play though, including Saturday's encounter at the Mercedes Benz Arena, there still remains plenty of time for Matarazzo to get his side back on track, and should they manage to pick up a rare three points at the weekend, they could leapfrog both Augsburg and Wolfsburg into 15th outside of the relegation places.
Meanwhile, the visitors head to Stuttgart on the back of a winless run of games themselves, with Frankfurt failing to pick up three points in their three fixtures of 2022 so far.
The demoralising defeat at home to Borussia Dortmund on the return from the winter break at the beginning of January seems to have damaged the confidence of Oliver Glasner's side, after they fell to a 3-2 defeat despite racing into a 2-0 lead during an impressive display.
Since then, Die Adler have drawn 1-1 at struggling Augsburg and been downed 2-0 at home to another relegation-threatened side in the form of Arminia Bielefeld.
Heading into a third consecutive encounter against a side at the wrong end of the table, Frankfurt find themselves down in ninth place in the table, with three points separating them from RB Leipzig in the European places.
With just eight points between Bayer Leverkusen in third and Mainz 05 in 10th, league positions can change drastically in the top half of the Bundesliga over the space of a few games, so Glasner and his side will not be panicking just yet.
However, should results not revert back to the excellent form at the end of 2021, where Frankfurt lost just once in their final 11 games of the calendar year, then concerns will begin to creep in of a potential failure to achieve a European spot of any kind come May.
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Team News
Stuttgart will be hoping that the reliable Borna Sosa will be fit enough to take his place at left wing-back on Saturday, after the Croatian underwent some dental surgery during the international break.
Marc-Oliver Kempf has departed for Hertha Berlin, so Konstantinos Mavropanos, Waldemar Anton and Hiroki Ito will make up the back three.
Omar Marmoush remains with Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations, so the goalscoring burden will once again fall on the shoulders of Kalajdzic up front.
Nikolas Nartey is expected to miss out with a bruised knee, whilst Mohamed Sankoh sits out for the remainder of the season due to a serious knee injury.
As for the visitors, Rafael Santos Borre will be hoping to pick up his impressive form from prior to the international and winter breaks, when he netted four goals and provided as many assists in his last seven Bundesliga appearances.
Daichi Kamada will be missing from the forward line due to a thigh strain though, whilst central defender Martin Hinteregger is doubtful due to a knock.
Stefan Ilsanker is expected to miss out after contracting COVID-19 and Ragnar Ache should also remain sidelined due to a muscle problem.
Stuttgart possible starting lineup:
Muller; Mavropanos, Anton, Ito; Fuhrich, Endo, Mangala, Sosa; Forster, Tibidi; Kalajdzic
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Tuta, Hasebe, N'Dicka; Chandler, Jakic, Sow, Kostic; Lindstrom, Hauge; Borre
We say: Stuttgart 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt
This game is a difficult one to call considering the two-week break from Bundesliga action for both sides, as well as the recent struggles of both prior to the break.
However, Frankfurt will see this as an ideal opportunity to get back on track in their quest to earn a European place, and we are predicting a narrow win for them against a struggling Stuttgart side.
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