Leverkusen vs Stuttgart: Form Gap Tells the Story

Four wins from their last six Bundesliga matches, 14 goals scored, and a 3-4 thriller at Mainz that somehow ended in their favour. Bayer 04 Leverkusen are not perfect this season, but they are dangerous, and they are at home on Saturday when VfB Stuttgart come to town for a matchweek 8 clash that has quite the form gap running through the middle of it.

Leverkusen's recent record reads W, D, W, W, W, L — that single defeat being a 3-0 hiding at TSG Hoffenheim that will have stung. But they bounced back by beating SC Freiburg 2-1, which tells you something about the character in this squad. P. Schick leads their attacking threat with 2 goals and 1 assist from just 3 appearances, making him one of the Bundesliga's more efficient strikers right now — sitting alongside the likes of Bayern's M. Olise in the league's top performers. I. Maza adds creativity from the CAM position with 1 goal and 2 assists in 3 outings, plus 7 key passes, the highest of any Leverkusen player in our records. The concern for fantasy football managers and Leverkusen fans alike is the injury list — seven players unavailable including Kofane, Badé, Boniface, Terrier, Ben Seghir, Eichhorn, and Oermann. That is a significant chunk of quality to be missing, and it puts real pressure on Schick and Maza to carry the attacking load.

Stuttgart's situation is considerably grimmer. Two wins, zero draws, four defeats from their last six — a sequence that reads W, L, L, W, L, L — with 9 goals scored and 8 conceded. A 2-3 home defeat to Borussia Mönchengladbach and a 1-0 loss at Hamburger SV in recent outings suggest a side struggling to find any consistency. E. Demirović has 2 goals from 2 appearances and is their most potent threat going forward, while Chema Andrés has quietly been one of their standout performers in the Bundesliga this season — 1 goal, 1 assist, and 3 clean sheets across 5 appearances. Stuttgart also have seven unavailable, including Stiller in midfield, which is a blow to their defensive shape. The injury to Stiller in particular matters because he was the kind of anchor who could help them manage a match, the sort of player who keeps things ticking without the ball in ways that only stand out when he is gone.

Here's the thing about this match preview — it is hard to find a genuine angle that favours Stuttgart. Their transfer business has not produced a squad deep enough to absorb this many injuries, their standings reflect a side still searching for an identity, and they travel to a team that put four past Mainz away from home while conceding three. Leverkusen are not without their own problems, and the goal Flekken has made 7 saves already this season tells you the defence has been tested. But with Schick fit, Maza pulling strings, and Stuttgart's recent form as patchy as it gets, the hosts are the side worth backing on Saturday.

Clubs in this story

VfB Stuttgart Bayer 04 Leverkusen Borussia Mönchengladbach TSG Hoffenheim Hamburger SV SC Freiburg