Stuttgart vs. St. Pauli preview: In-form hosts targeting fifth straight victory

Stuttgart

Stuttgart have put together a five-game unbeaten run since they suffered a heavy 5-1 defeat to Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League. Die Schwaben kicked off their positive run of form with a draw against Werder Bremen, before they recorded wins over Jahn Regensburg and Union Berlin the DFB-Pokal and league respectively. They then claimed a 5-1 home victory over Young Boys to boost their hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout rounds. 

After sweeping past the Swiss side, Stuttgart returned to domestic action to clinch a 3-1 away win over Heidenheim. Maximilian Mittelstädt, Enzo Millot and Nick Woltemade all got on the scoresheet to fire Stuttgart to their first away league win since September, leaving them in sixth place and four points adrift of the top four.

Sebastian Hoeneß’s side will now return to the MHP Arena, where they have recorded three victories in four league games, including their last two Bundesliga home matches against Bochum and Union. In fact, Stuttgart have been a strong force on home turf throughout the calendar year, having lost just one of their 15 home league games in 2024 (W10, D4).

Team News

The hosts are unable to call upon the services of Deniz Undav, Jamie Leweling, Nikolas Nartey, El Bilal Touré, Dan-Axel Zagadou and Justin Diehl. Meanwhile, Atakan Karazor will miss the game due to illness.

St. Pauli

St. Pauli are hovering one point above the bottom three after winning three, drawing two and losing nine of their 14 league matches. The newly-promoted side have found it difficult to pick up points in recent times, having lost four of their previous five league matches. They began that run of games with consecutive defeats against Bayern Munich and Borussia Mönchengladbach, before they claimed a 3-1 victory over Holstein Kiel at the end of November.

Unfortunately for St. Pauli, they have been unable to build upon that result in their first two matches of December, losing 2-1 to champions Bayer Leverkusen before falling to a 2-0 defeat against Werder Bremen. As a result of those two losses, St. Pauli are now at risk of finishing 2024 with three consecutive defeats. Alexander Blessin will hope his team can avoid that scenario, as they travel to MHP Arena with hopes of picking up at least a point against an in-form Stuttgart side.

However, those hopes may be tempered by the fact they have lost nine of their previous 10 meetings with Stuttgart (D1) since they recorded a 2-1 victory in November 1996.

Team News

The visitors are without the services of Sascha Burchert, Robert Wagner, Connor Metcalfe, Elias Saad, Simon Zoller and Karol Mets.