A warm welcome for Stuttgart
For starters: The Werkself have not clocked up more wins in the Bundesliga than against VfB Stuttgart – in 76 meetings, the Black and Reds have ended up taking all three points. The Werkself are not particularly hospitable in home games against the Swabians – The visitors left empty-handed on 18 occasions with only Gladbach (20) and Hamburg (19) heading home more often without any points. And also for this match: Sorry, dear Stuttgart fans – even if it is the 125th anniversary your club, we have an urgent need to take all three points!
And there was something else
That's right. There's a score to settle: Last season, the Werkself suffered an annoying and unnecessary 1-0 defeat at home to VfB on matchday 32. That did not reflect the course of the game but it did bring the first Stuttgart win in the last 13 league fixtures (three draws, 10 defeats from the visitors perspective). The 1-0 reverse was also only the second time since 1998 that the Werkself failed to score against the Swabians at home. Otherwise, the White and Reds are a good bet for goal celebrations – the Werkself have only scored more often in the league against Gladbach (137) than against VfB (130). In the previous 18 league fixtures before the April game, the ball was in the back of the Stuttgart net 45 times (around 2.5 goals per game). So why not carry on as we did before last spring?
Pressure at the back
Or more exactly formulated: Lukas Hradecky has been busy at the back. 24 goals have been conceded in the first third of the season with eight coming in the past three Bundesliga matches. That is too much for the generous Finn. And it is little consolation that VfB Stuttgart have also let in 24 goals so far. But at least that is a sign that they are susceptible in front of their own goal. NB: The Werkself have kept 25 clean sheets against VfB in the league. Let's have an encore tomorrow! Again, not conceding would also represent a big black and red ribbon on a present for our number one who is 28 today. Fingers crossed, that would make a great contribution to his birthday weekend.
Four at 04
Friday also brings another refereeing debut for the Black and Reds. Following the game against Leipzig where Martin Petersen was in charge of his first league game involving the Werkself, the opening game on matchday 12 has Robert Schröder as referee. It is the first competitive Bayer 04 game for the 33 year-old as well. His 04th Bundesliga fixture brings him to the BayArena. The match official from Hannover will be assisted by Norbert Grudzinski and Sascha Thielert. Thorben Siewer is the fourth official.
A quick note for anyone wanting to make a spur of the moment decision: Tickets are still available for the game. Otherwise the match is only available on the Pay-TV channel Eurosport. As with every game, there is the official live text commentary in German at bayer04.de and on our smart phone apps for those on the road. And the stadium atmosphere including commentary is also available on Werkself Radio (also in German). The official Bayer 04 social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat) also provide updates before, during and after the game.
