'We have to win, we need the points'

The head coach on the game: "As of player you hate defeats. We can't afford three in succession. But that's happened. Now I hope my players can turn the ' fire in their bellies' into energy and positive aggression," said the 55-year-old coach to the members of the media. Peter Bosz also warned against underestimating the relegation-threatened Stuttgart team: "It definitely won't be an easy way game against a team that also urgently need the points." Unbeaten in the last three home games, Stuttgart are in the play-off spot – with a four point gap to positions 15 and 17. "They'll fight to the end, they'll try to be very compact and probably attempt to hurt us with quick, long passes and the pace they've got in their team," said Bosz. However, it's more important how his players perform at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart: "We have our way of playing both at home and away. And it's down to us to do that on the pitch." The Dutchman has absolutely no doubts about his system that has seen the Werkself not only lose three times but also conceded eleven goals: "We've shown on numerous occasions that we can keep clean sheets in spite of our attacking football. In those games we were very good defensively and very solid. Against Bremen (1-3, ed.) We didn't show that in the first half, we played very badly and were very careless in defence – we didn't play our attacking football. Against Hoffenheim (1-4, ed.) It was the same in the second half." But in other games – including long periods against Leipzig (2-4, ed.) – his team showed they can attack while being well-organised in defence. "We have to do that over 90 minutes. And not just in one game but all our games. That's the target," added Bosz.

Personnel: Following the early end to the season for Karim Bellarabi, the Werkself suffered the next long-term blow at the start of this week: Joel Pohjanpalo, who returned to full training after eight months of rehab, again complained of pains in his right ankle that sidelines him for a number of weeks once more – an unfortunate albeit expected setback on the way to full recovery. That means the 24-year-old Finn will miss the season run-in for the Black and Reds.  Otherwise, Peter Bosz has the remaining 19 outfield players available. Kevin Volland (cold), Jonathan Tah, Leon Bailey (both rested), Lars Bender (partial involvement after thigh injury), who were partly or completely unavailable for training the start of the week, are all available for the important game away to VfB Stuttgart. At the same time, Peter Bosz has ruled out a start for his captain: "Lars trained with us yesterday and today. But I think it's too soon for him to play from the start after just two training sessions with the team."

The referee: Tobias Stieler is in charge of the 78th Bundesliga meeting between the Werkself and VfB Stuttgart. The 37-year-old from Hamburg has already refereed 103 top-flight games – this will be the 04th time with the Werkself this term. The last time was the 3-1 home win against Bayern Munich. Bayer 04 have won eleven of the previous 15 league games he has refereed. The FIFA referee will be assisted by Dr. Matthias Jöllenbeck and Christian Gittelmann on Saturday and Tobias Christ, Is the fourth official. Tobias Welz and Dr. Martin Thomsen are the VAR referees.

The previous meeting: VfB Stuttgart were the visitors to the BayArena at the start of matchday 12 on 23 November. The second home win in the current campaign against the then bottom-of-the-table team was the clear target for the Black and Reds particularly after two defeats against Hoffenheim (1-4) and Leipzig (0-3). The uncertainty of both teams over the 90 minutes was evident but the team under former coach Heiko Herrlich took control of the game and created good chances. The best two for the Werkself fell to Tin Jedvaj and Kevin Volland but were not converted in a first half marked by lots of fouls and niggles. The visitors made little headway after the restart. That only changed to a limited extent in the second half while Leverkusen invested much greater effort on a cold Friday night in Leverkusen in front of a crowd of 25,000 as they pressed towards the Stuttgart goal. With just 15 minutes to go, the committed, but up to that point unsuccessfu,l Volland finally came good when he headed home from a Kai Havertz cross to make it 1-0 on 76 minutes. Three minutes later, it was the Werkself number 31 again who doubled the lead with a fine left foot shot to round off some good work by Lucas Alario. The latter found the back of the Stuttgart net in added time but his strike was ruled out for offside leaving the final score 2-0.