Last season’s second vs third place takes place on Friday night as Stuttgart host this season’s league leaders Bayern Munich.

Stuttgart are in seventh place this season with 36 points and are chasing a top four finish, which they are just three points behind.

Last week they drew 1-1 against Hoffenheim where they took the lead in the 9^th minute and created plenty of chances however, they conceded in the 74^th minute when Gift Orban levelled the scoring.

Sebastian Hoeness’s side have now conceded 12 goals in their last seven matches in all competitions and have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last five Bundesliga matches.

The defending must improve for Stuttgart, especially as they are facing the Bundesliga’s top three in the next four matches.

Their opponents Bayern Munich are now eight points clear at the top of the table having come of the back of a 4-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt.

This was Vincent Kompany’s side’s third clean sheet in a row in the league, which is a big improvement on the previous three matches where Bayern did not keep a clean sheet and conceded six goals.

They are also the leagues top scorers with 69 goals, which is at least 18 more than any other side in the division.

In the reverse fixture back in October, Bayern were 4-0 winners, with Harry Kane scoring a hat-trick in the second half.

Team News

Stuttgart will be without centre-back Dan-Axel Zagadou and striker El Bilal Toure due to injury.

As for Bayer Munich, Vincent Kompany has said that it is probably too early for Joshua Kimmich to return against Stuttgart but did confirm that Aleksandar Pavlovic is fit to play.

Dayot Upamecano will miss out with injury meaning Eric Dier and Kim Min-jae are very much likely to be paired in the centre of defence.

GGFN | Matthew Gritton