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VfB Stuttgart host Borussia Monchengladbach in a third-round DFB-Pokal clash at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on Wednesday night.
Gladbach have been in good form recently, and have climbed up the Bundesliga table after an indifferent start to the season.
They are seventh in the Bundesliga, but are level on points with fifth-placed Borussia Dortmund, and just a point off fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen.
They could have inched into the top four this last weekend, but couldn't manage to take the full points against Union Berlin. Marco Rose's side drew that game 1-1, with Alassane Plea scoring a second-half equalizer to cancel out Robin Knoche's first-half opener for Union.
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In the previous round of the DFB-Pokal, Gladbach had it nice and easy. They strolled post SV Elversberg 5-0 to book their place in the third round.
Stuttgart didn't have it as easy in the last round, when they faced Bundesliga opposition in Freiburg. They won that game 1-0 thanks to an early goal from Sasa Kaladzic.
Stuttgart are currently 10th in the Bundesliga. They come into this game on the back of a win. They beat bottom club Mainz 2-0 on Saturday, with goals from Kaladzic and Silas Wamangituka.
VfB Stuttgart vs Borussia Monchengladbach Head-to-Head
Stuttgart have won 14 of the last 35 meetings against Gladbach, losing only 10 of those. There have been 11 draws in that time.
When these two sides met in the league two weeks ago, the game finished 2-2. Wamangituka's penalty in second-half stoppage time gave Stuttgart a share of the spoils.
Union Berlin form guide: L-L-W-D-W
Borussia Monchengladbach form guide: W-W-D-W-W
VfB Stuttgart vs Borussia Monchengladbach Team News
VfB Stuttgart
Stuttgart will be without the injured Borna Sosa, Philipp Forster and back Maxime Awoudja. Pellegrino Mattarazo will have to juggle his defence around to cover for the absentees. Midfielders Clinton Mola and Lilian Egloff, and forward Hamadi Al Ghaddioui are also injured.
Injured: Maxime Awoudja, Borna Sosa, Philipp Forster, Clinton Mola, Lilian Egloff, Hamadi Al Ghaddioui
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Borussia Monchengladbach
Meanwhile, Gladbach will be without Mamadou Doucoure, Valentino Lazaro and Rocco Reitz, who are all nursing injuries.
Injured: Valentino Lazaro, Mamadou Doucoure, Rocco Reitz
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
VfB Stuttgart vs Borussia Monchengladbach Predicted XI
VfB Stuttgart Predicted XI (3-4-2-1): Gregor Kobel; Pascal Stenzel, Waldemar Anton, Marc-Oliver Kempf; Tanguy Coulibaly, Wataru Endo, Orel Mangala, Silas Wamangituka; Gonzalo Castro, Daniel Didavi; Nicolas Gonzalez
Borussia Monchengladbach Predicted XI (3-4-1-2): Yann Sommer, Matthias Ginter, Denis Zakaria, Nico Elvedi, Stefan Lainer, Christoph Kramer, Florian Neuhaus, Ramy Bensebaini, Lars Stindl, Alassane Plea, Jonas Hofmann
VfB Stuttgart vs Borussia Monchengladbach Prediction
Gladbach will fancy their chances going into this game, with Stuttgart displaying inconsistency in recent weeks.
We are predicting a narrow win for Rose's men, in what is unlikely to be a high-scoring fixture.
Prediction: VfB Stuttgart 1-2 Borussia Monchengladbach
