Heidenheim vs. Stuttgart preview: Can the hosts end their winless run?

Heidenheim

Heidenheim head into matchday 14 in the relegation playoff spot after winning four, drawing one and losing nine of their 13 league matches. They recorded all three of those victories across the opening four matchdays, before going on to lose seven of their next eight Bundesliga matches, including last Saturday’s clash with Bayern Munich. Mathias Honsak and Niklas Dorsch both got on the scoresheet, but their goals could not stop Heidenheim from falling to a 4-2 defeat at the Allianz Arena.

Frank Schmidt’s side experienced another disappointing outing in midweek, conceding two goals in the opening 20 minutes of a 3-1 defeat against Istanbul Basaksehir in the Conference League. That result made it six straight defeats in all competitons since they beat Hearts on November 7. Despite experiencing an unsuccessful trip to Turkey, Heidenheim are still guaranteed to finish in the top-24 in the league phase after taking nine points from five matches.

Heidenheim will now turn their focus back to domestic action for a tricky home game against Stuttgart. The hosts will be targeting an improved defensive display after conceding 16 goals across their last four league games.

Team News

The hosts are expected to be without ​​Marvin Pieringer, Julian Niehues, Denis Thomalla and Lennard Maloney.

Stuttgart

In contrast to their hosts, Stuttgart will head into Sunday’s fixture in a positive mood after winning each of their last three competitive matches. Sebastian Hoeneß’s side kicked off that winning run with a 3-0 away victory over Jahn Regensburg in the DFB-Pokal, before they fought back from two goals down to beat Union Berlin in their most recent Bundesliga outing. 

They then made light work of Thursday’s Champions League clash against Young Boys, with Angelo Stiller, Enzo Millot, Chris Führich, Josha Vagnoman and Yannik Keitel all getting on the scoresheet in a 5-1 home win. That result moved Stuttgart to within one point of the top-24 ahead of the final two rounds of matches in the league phase.

Stuttgart will resume their European campaign in the new year, but their current focus will be on Sunday’s trip to the Voith-Arena. The visitors, who occupy eighth place in the Bundesliga, have found wins hard to come by in recent away league games, having drawn three and lost one of their last four top-flight away matches since they recorded a 3-1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach on September 14. They are also looking for their first Bundesliga win over Heidenheim after they took just one point from their first two top-flight meeting in 2023-24.

Team News

The visitors are without the services of Dan-Axel Zagadou, Nikolas Nartey, Deniz Undav, Jamie Leweling and El Bilal Touré.