Bayer Leverkusen vs VfB Stuttgart Preview

Bundesliga defending champions Bayer Leverkusen will look to return to winning ways when they welcome VfB Stuttgart to the Bay Arena this Friday.

After storming to the title last season, Xabi Alonso’s men have found the league a bit tougher this season. Having already drawn three and lost one of their opening eight games (W4), Leverkusen sit in third place, five points behind early league leaders Bayern Munich.

The hosts have collected several points less than they did at this stage of last season and their most recent 2-2 draw with Bremen means they have won just one of their last four league games (D3). For a side that were famed for coming from behind to take points last season, Leverkusen have squandered a lead in four games already this season (D3, L1).

This includes letting two 2-0 leads slip on home soil this season, with one of those leading to their first Bundesliga defeat since May 2023 when Leipzig beat them 3-2. However, the good omen is that this fixture last term saw Leverkusen actually overturn a 2-0 deficit, scoring the equaliser in added time against a team who they have collected their joint-second most home wins in their Bundesliga history (W22, D14, L7) against.

Meanwhile, Stuttgart will travel to Leverkusen hoping to make it four consecutive wins in all competitions for the first time since December last year. Like their hosts, the visitors have also had a shaky start to the season, as they have nine points less than they did in 2023/24 when they were second at this stage.

They find themselves sitting eighth after ending a run of three winless league games with a 2-1 victory over Holstein Kiel, meaning that in the last three Bundesliga games Stuttgart scored first, they went on to win. Both of their league losses this term have come on the road, with the last one at Bayern Munich (4-0) ending an eleven-match scoring away run in the Bundesliga (W7, D2, L3).

Yet they have scored twice in three of their last four Bundesliga away H2Hs, even though that hasn’t changed the fact they’ve won just one of their last 13 top-flight visits to Leverkusen (D2, L10).

Other fixtures taking place this week in the German Bundesliga:

German Bundesliga Table