Following his side's amazing second-half turnaround to win 2-1 at RB Leipzig a weekend ago, Cologne supervisor Stefan Ruthenbeck is probably not going to roll out excessively numerous improvements for the visit of Stuttgart. Forward Simon Zoller and midfielder Leonardo Bittencourt, who scored the champ off the seat at the Red Bull Arena, could be the special cases to this, supplanting dicey pair Horn (midfield) and Yuya Osako (forward – 2 objectives so far this season). The Billy Goats are currently only seven focuses loose from wellbeing of programmed assignment, which means a win on Sunday could convey genuine would like to Cologne's impossible survival offer.
Stuttgart put significantly more space amongst themselves and the transfer zone with a third progressive 1-0 win a weekend ago, this time at home to the in-frame Eintract Frankfurt. New mentor Tayfun Korkut stays unbeaten in his four amusements in control (W3 D1), however the advanced side likewise still have work to do to guarantee another season in the best flight. Stuttgart's prosperity under their new mentor has been based on bringing Holger Badstuber into midfield, with veteran forward Mario Gomez proceeding to awe in advance – Gomez has two objectives in his last two Bundesliga away excursions.
Regarding wagering, backing objectives at the two finishes looks the best wager for Sunday. Factually, this has been a standout amongst the most predictable examples in Cologne's current matches, and conditions are ideal for a rehash of that situation here. The Billy Goats haven't looked better before objective this season than in 2018 – truth be told, under mentor Stefan Ruthenbeck's watch, the Billy Goats have arrived at the midpoint of around four fold the number of objectives (1.6 for every amusement) as they did under Peter Stöger (0.4 for every diversion) – and it's previous Stuttgart forward Simon Terodde (5 objectives in 7 coordinates) who's demonstrating generally destructive. At the opposite end of the pitch however, goalkeeper Timo Horn is battling, keeping just once clean sheet so far this year (14%).
Who secures the focuses in this one however? Well despite the fact that Stuttgart are on a keep running of three back to back wins, it's difficult to not pull for, and see an incentive in, the hosts here. Stuttgart's situation in the table stems from their solid home record – truth be told, the Swabians hold the joint most noticeably awful away record in the Bundesliga (W1 D2 L9) and have yielded an enormous 1.67 objectives for every match out and about – while verifiably, Cologne just hold a superior no holds barred record against Schalke (36 wins) than them (35 wins). Also, however the Billy Goats haven't beaten Stuttgart in nine home amusements since October 2000, the arrival of some of their most grounded players from damage joined with a recently discovered hard working attitude makes them worth a punt on Sunday. Our expectation: a 2-1 Cologne win.
Plausible line-ups
Cologne: Horn – Sörensen, Mere, Heintz – Risse, Koziello, Höger, Hector (c) – Osako, Bittencourt - Terodde
Non-attendants: Horn (icy), Queiros (neck), Clemens (thigh)
Mentor: Stefan Ruthenbeck
Stuttgart: Zieler – Beck, Baumgartl, Pavard, Insua – Badstuber, Ascacibar, Gentner (c) – Thommy, Gomez, Ginczek
Non-attendants: Akolo (crotch), Mane (thigh), Zimmermann (knee tendons)
Mentor: Tayfun Korkut
Match details
Just against Schalke (36) have Cologne won a bigger number of amusements in their Bundesliga history than against Stuttgart (35).
All things considered, the Billy Goats have not beaten VfB in the nine home amusements – the last win at the RheinEnergieStadion coming in October 2000.
Cologne striker Simon Terodde completed last season as Bundesliga 2 top scorer (25 objectives), helping Stuttgart win the title all the while.
Stuttgart have won the last two Bundesliga diversions against Cologne; the last time the Swabians oversaw three out of a column was in the vicinity of 1989 and 1991.
New Stuttgart mentor Korkut has never lost to Cologne in the best flight (W1 D2).
Going to skipper Christian Gentner has scored five vocation objectives against Cologne, more than against some other group.