Stuttgart will be aiming to move outside of the relegation places when they return to action against Mainz 05 on Saturday.

Mainz, meanwhile, could move into the top half of the Bundesliga table with a victory.

Match preview

After only avoiding a relegation playoff against Hamburger SV due to having a superior goal difference to Hertha Berlin last season, Stuttgart certainly look set for another long slog of a campaign this time around.

After losing 2-0 to Bayer Leverkusen in their last match prior to the recent World Cup in Qatar, Die Roten's board have chosen to part ways from interim manager Michael Wimmer, with Bruno Labbadia installed for his second spell at the club.

The 56-year-old, whose most recent managerial spell came with Hertha, guided Stuttgart to the Europa League in two of his three seasons in charge between 2010 and 2013, but his aims are likely to be much more modest this time around, at least in the short term.

Labbadia will be hoping for a rapturous welcome at the Mercedes-Benz Arena against Mainz on Saturday, with his side's home form likely to prove crucial in terms of keeping them afloat in Germany's top division by the end of the season.

Mainz, of course, are a much more settled unit than their forthcoming opponents, having been led by Bo Svensson for more than two years now.

The 43-year-old, whose only previous managerial role was at FC Liefering in Austria, arrived in the Rhineland in a similar - albeit more precarious - position to Labbadia at Stuttgart, with Mainz struggling inside the bottom three places.

However, a strong run of form under the former Denmark international saw them comfortably survive by the end of the 2020-21 campaign, before he guided them to their strongest league placement in six years by finishing eighth last season.

Svensson will be keen to see his side return to winning ways having failed to claim all three points in any of their four matches prior to the World Cup, though, with a visit to a struggling team potentially presenting itself as a decent opportunity to lay down a marker for the second half of the campaign.

Team News

Stuttgart are likely to be without Atakan Karazor (Achilles), Dan-Axel Zagadou (ligament), Borna Sosa (groin) and Chris Fuhrich (shoulder) due to injury, while Laurin Ulrich is suffering with illness.

Labbadia utilised three central defenders in a recent friendly defeat against Slavia Prague, so the former Wolfsburg boss appears likely to stick with the back five system which Stuttgart have used for the majority of this season.

Mainz, meanwhile, could travel without Marlon Mustapha (thigh), Jonathan Burkardt (knee), Anton Stach (toe) and Stefan Bell and Robin Zentner (both muscle), while Delano Burgzorg is still working his way back to full fitness following a knock.

Marcus Ingvartsen, Lee Jae-sung and Angelo Fulgini are likely to be fighting to start in attack behind Karim Onisiwo, who will be hoping to go on a goalscoring run at some point having only bagged four times in 15 league games so far this season.

Stuttgart possible starting lineup:
Muller; Anton, Mavropanos, Ito; Vagnoman, Endo, Ahamada, Nartey, Silas; Tomas, Guirassy

Mainz 05 possible starting lineup:
Zentner; Bell, Hack, Leitsch; Widmer, Barreiro, Kohr, Caricol; Jae-sung, Fulgini; Onisiwo

We say: Stuttgart 1-1 Mainz 05

With both teams potentially missing some important players through injury and likely to still be finding their rhythm in their first competitive match for more than two months, we can envisage a share of the spoils in Stuttgart on Saturday.

The hosts should be buoyed by the return of a successful former manager in their dugout, but Svensson's Mainz are generally a tough nut to crack and will not want to return with a defeat.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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