Augsburg vs Stuttgart

WWK Arena is the venue as Augsburg and Stuttgart go head-to-head in a top-half Bundesliga showdown. 

Augsburg’s once promising-looking form has descended into chaos as they’ve only claimed one win across their last six league outings (D1, L4) after four victories on the trot beforehand. A thumping 5-1 defeat at Borussia Dortmund in the previous round added insult to injury, leaving ‘Die Fuggerstӓdter’ in ninth, two points adrift of the European spots. However, the hosts can rely on the fixture schedule down the final stretch to aid their cause, with last weekend’s trip to Dortmund the first of three top-five opponents they will take on in the season finale. Playing against such opposition spells trouble, as two of Augsburg’s four home league defeats this season came against current top-five sides (W6, D6, L4). On top of that, they slumped to a dismal 3-0 loss in December’s reverse fixture.

In the meantime, Stuttgart arrested a two-game winless Bundesliga run (D1, L1) with an emphatic 3-1 home victory against dethroned champions Bayern Munich last weekend, removing all doubts regarding their first Champions League qualification since 2009/10! After securing top-flight survival through relegation playoffs last season, the most-improved Bundesliga side could beat Bayern to a runner-up finish after reducing the gap to only two points. The division’s fourth-best away record in 2023/24 (W9, D1, L6) sets Stuttgart up nicely for this trip, especially considering only four of those six defeats on their travels have come against current top-half sides. However, they’ve struggled against Augsburg big time, losing over 50% of their top-flight visits to the WWK Arena over the last 12 years (W3, D1, L6).