RB Leipzig will be aiming to bounce back from suffering defeat on the opening matchday when they host Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Friday night.
Stuttgart, meanwhile, got their season up and running with a fantastic 5-0 win against VfL Bochum.
Despite hugely impressing when beating Bayern Munich 3-0 in the DFL-Supercup, with Dani Olmo – who has been linked with a move to Manchester City in recent days – scoring a hat-trick, Leipzig fell to a 3-2 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.
Xabi Alonso’s side moved into a two-goal lead on two occasions, with Olmo and Lois Openda quickly pulling one back on both occasions, but Die Roten Bullen could not find a crucial equaliser at BayArena.
Marco Rose will certainly not be panicking just yet, especially having been handed a tough away trip for any team on the opening matchday of the season, but the defeat clearly increases the pressure on them collecting all three points on Friday.
Given that Leipzig have won 12 of their 15 home games since Rose was appointed as manager 11 months ago, they should feel extremely confident of delivering, even if Stuttgart’s impressive win last weekend may have caught their eye.
Indeed, having finished 15th in the 2021-22 season before only surviving by beating Hamburger SV across a two-legged play-off at the end of the last campaign, Stuttgart sent out a statement of intent that they do not want to be involved in a relegation battle this time around.
In truth, Die Schwaben have hugely improved since appointing Sebastian Hoeness as their manager in early April, with the former Hoffenheim boss losing just one of his eight league games in charge before his side’s thrashing of Bochum last weekend.
Sehrou Guirassy and Silas showcased Stuttgart’s firepower by both bagging themselves braces, while former Borussia Dortmund defender Dan-Axel Zagadou also got himself on the scoresheet at the Mercedes Benz Arena.https://fa137cee1d7bc8d5881805e0548ab2f2.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html?n=0
Having surprisingly lost holding midfielder Wataru Endo to Liverpool in a £15m deal last week, Hoeness will hope to recruit to strengthen that area of the pitch before the end of the window, but otherwise they look well-set to finish clear of the bottom three ahead of a tricky trip to Leipzig on Friday.
Leipzig have several players out through injury at present, with Peter Gulasci, Benjamin Sesko, Amadou Haidara and Andre Silva expected to be out until after next month’s international break.
Rose may be tempted to recall Emil Forsberg and Kevin Kampl to his starting XI for greater experience, with Xavi Simons and Nicolas Seiwald potentially the most at risk of dropping down to the bench as a result.
Christoph Baumgartner managed to shake off a recent knock to feature on the bench for his new side against Leverkusen, and he will hope to make his debut on Friday.
Stuttgart, meanwhile, will travel without Konstantinos Mavropanos, Fabian Bredlow, Deniz Undav, Nikolas Nartey, Josha Vagnoman and Thomas Kastanaras, with their treament room also set to remain a busy one with none of those players expected back before mid-September.
Having produced such a scintillating performance when thrashing Bochum, it would be a surprise if Hoeness made any adjustments to his team, meaning that Croatia full-back Borna Sosa may have to settle for appearing from the bench once again.
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Blaswich; Henrichs, Simakan, Orban, Raum; Kampl, Schlager; Forsberg, Olmo; Werner, Openda
Stuttgart possible starting lineup:
Nubel; Stenzel, Anton, Zagadou, Ito; Millot, Karazor; Silas, Woo-Yeong, Fuhrich; Guirassy
We say: RB Leipzig 3-1 Stuttgart
Stuttgart will carry plenty of threat in transition with the pace and finishing abilities of Silas and Guirassy, who will both be extremely confident after scoring twice each on the opening day.
However, Leipzig’s performance was not bad by any means despite being defeated away to Leverkusen on Sunday, and we expect them to bounce back given that their home form has been so impressive under Rose’s tutelage.
