Two sides who suffered late heartbreak last weekend will look to improve on their form when they face on Sunday. 

The hosts, Holstein Kiel, faced Jahn Regensburg away from home for their match last weekend. 2-0 up in the 58th minute, they conceded in the 75th minute, before giving away a penalty in the second minute of extra time which was converted by Andreas Albers.

The controversy for VfB Stuttgart also involved penalties, with VAR involved. Drawing 1-1 with relegation strugglers Wehen Wiesbaden, the home side were awarded a questionable penalty for a handball via the video assistant in the 97th minute, which was scored by Phillip Tietz. Their lack of points picked up saw them drop down to third place.

With Arminia Bielefeld facing Hamburger SV at the weekend, Stuttgart will want to focus on picking up a win against Kiel if they are to claw their way back into the automatic promotion places to try and secure Bundesliga football next season.

Team news

Timon Weiner, Michael Eberwein and Janni Serra will all be unavailable for Holstein Kiel due to injury.

VfB Stuttgart will be without Maxime Awoudja or Borna Sosa on Sunday as they are both injured.

Predicted lineups

Holstein Kiel: Gelios; Neumann, Wahl, Thesker, Bergh; Meffert, Muhling, Ozcan; Iyoha, Jae-Sung, Reese

VfB Stuttgart: Kobel; Phillips, Kaminski, Kempft, Castro; Forster, Endo, Didavi; Wamangituka, Gomez, Gonzalez

Ones to watch

Holstein Kiel: Jae-Sung Lee

27-year-old Jae-Sung Lee has been the standout player for Holstein Kiel going forwards this season.

The South Korean international tops the club's assists and goals leaderboard and plays in the centre of a front three in a 4-3-3 formation.

He netted in the club's previous game against Jahn Regensburg and will look to carry on that form.

VfB Stuttgart: Mario Gomez

Although he is at the latter end of his career, Mario Gomez is a striker who has been scoring goals at a high level for nearly twenty years.

Before retiring from international football in 2018, he also played regularly for the German national team, with which he won the 2014 World Cup.

Gomez has netted six times this season in VfB Stuttgart's aim for promotion back to the Bundesliga at the first time of asking, and he will be a crucial element of the reds' setup on Sunday.

Match prediction

Holstein Kiel 1-1 VfB Stuttgart

Although they slipped up in their first game against Wiesbaden, Stuttgart are one of the best teams in the league and will likely bounce back from their embarrassing defeat, however, Kiel will put up a very strong resistance to their opposition.

Holstein Kiel have drawn five of their home games this season, whilst Stuttgart have drawn five of their matches away from home. It is likely that Sunday's game will end in a stalemate.

If the game is not a draw, then it will probably be VfB Stuttgart who go home with all three points, they are the side with the much better team on paper.

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