Fortuna Dusseldorf vs Stuttgart Predictions

Dusseldorf did stop the rot by drawing away at Hoffenheim last weekend, though they went back to struggling in the week, as they lost by four goals to one away at Schalke in the DFB Pokal. Now back on their own patch, Friedhelm Funkel’s men will be looking to bounce back.

After receiving a battering from Leipzig, Dusseldorf did well to steady the ship last weekend, as they drew away against a decent Hoffenheim side. Their performance wasn’t particularly eye-catching, but they certainly tightened up at the back, while they were typically clinical in front of goal.

All season long, Fortuna have shown that they’re no pushovers. They’ve certainly endured some beatings, but they’ve often bounced back quickly, while their home form remains encouraging. When playing in front of a home crowd, Dusseldorf have delivered several pleasing performances. Prior to their loss against Leipzig, Funkel’s men had won two on the bounce at MERKUR SPIEL-ARENA, while they’ve won three of their last five in front of a home crowd.

From an underlying numbers point of view, Sunday’s hosts have been reasonably solid. They’re averaging a modest 1.34 expected goals for and have given away a very respectable 1.28. When compared to Stuttgart’s away figures, such numbers make for pleasing reading.

While the hosts have done reasonably well at home this season, Stuttgart have made hard work of playing on the road. Sunday’s visitors will be buoyed by their efforts at home last week, even though they gave away all three points in the dying moments, but their away-day efforts do not bode well.

Stuttgart have won just one of their ten away matches this season, while they’ve only avoided defeat in one of the other nine. Going forward, they’ve been massively lacking, as the fact that they’ve scored an average of just 0.7 goals suggests. Their rather embarrassing average of just 0.79 expected goals for further supports the notion that Markus Weinzierl’s men have been ineffective in the final third.

As well as struggling to make headway going forward, Stuttgart have found it very, very tough to keep things tight at the back. They’ve conceded in nine of their ten travelling matches and have sipped at least twice eight of those. The fact that they’re giving up an average of 1.83 expected goals for tells us that they’re not exactly tough to create against.

With Stuttgart looking very poor at the back away from home, Dusseldorf are fancied to excel in the final third and punters can profit be backing ‘Dusseldorf to Score Over 1.5 Goals’. Sunday’s hosts haven’t exactly been the most prolific side, but this is an excellent opportunity for them to flex their attacking muscles. What’s more, they have proved that they can take advantage of poor defending, most recently when scoring twice at home against both Dortmund and Freiburg, so they ought to be capable of hurting Stuttgart, who have offered next to no defensive resistance on the road this season.