Holger Badstuber is expected to be out for Stuttgart, while Jan Kliment and Benjamin Pavard are doubts too.
Brandon Borello remains sidelined for the visitors. Tim Kleindienst is also unlikely to return, nor is Roland Sallai.
Prior to the winter break, Stuttgart were in poor form. They lost away to Wolfsburg, while they said goodbye to 2018 by losing at home to Schalke. Since returning, things haven’t got much better; Die Roten lost at home to Mainz first game back, while they were battered by Bayern on the road last time out. A win is needed if Saturday’s hosts want to avoid sinking too deep into the drop-zone. Stuttgart were well beaten by Bayern last time out, though it’s of little value to judge them on their performance against one of the chief title chasers. Unfortunately for Markus Weinzierl’s men, they seem to be losing against anyone and everyone at present. However, it’s easy to feel that they’ve been a tad unlucky on their own patch, so perhaps there’s reason for the hosts to feel slightly optimistic ahead of Saturday’s match. There was plenty to like about the way Stuttgart attacked Mainz in their last home match, so much so that they were unfortunate to lose. They dominated in all areas, created far more than their opponents and genuinely did not deserve to come off second best. Prior to that, Die Roten played well in defeat at home to Schalke, again they were unlucky to lose. It’s becoming more and more clear that Stuttgart’s defence, which has shipped seven goals in the last three at home, is not the toughest to get at, even if they don’t give away an abundance of chances, though they have certainly got something about them going forward at Mercedes-Benz Arena. Sunday’s hosts have now scored in each of their last four and have scored a respectable total of six goals during that time, while their last two efforts in terms of expected goals for have been pleasing too. Freiburg are not the best side on the road, but they too have shown themselves to be capable of making offensive headway, though the less said about their defensive efforts the better. Sunday’s visitors have kept a clean sheet in just one of their nine travelling matches in the Bundesliga this season, conceding at least twice in five of those, while they’re surrendering an average of 1.96 expected goals for, which doesn’t exactly bode well. Given Freiburg’s defensive record on the road this season, it’s easy to envisage Stuttgart goals materialising on Sunday evening, though it would be wrong to write the visitors off from an attacking point of view. In terms of chances, Stuttgart tend to concede less at home than Freiburg do on the road, though it’s not taken much for teams to score at Mercedes-Benz Arena of late, as the likes of Mainz, Schalke, Hertha and Augsburg, three of which are in the bottom half alongside Sunday’s visitors, have all found out in recent times. All things considered, both teams ought to fancy their chances going forward on Sunday, so we should see a rather open game. If we consider this in conjunction with the recent defensive performances of both in their respective home and away matches, then ‘Over 2.5 Goals’ is relatively easy to make a case for at the prices. Not only have three or more goals hit the net in four of Stuttgart’s last five at home, but with Stuttgart conceding an average of two goals at home this season and with the visitors shipping an average 1.89 on the road, coupled with the fact that the pair are conceding an average of 3.43 expected goals combined in their respective home and away games, there’s value to be had by backing ‘Over 2.5 Goals’.