Stuttgart vs FC Koln prediction: GERMANY: Bundesliga betting tips on match 2022-05-13 16:30.
With one final round of the 2021/22 Bundesliga season left to play, 16th-placed Stuttgart have a shot of avoiding a two-legged relegation playoff thanks to their crucial point at champions Bayern Munich last weekend. Sitting three points behind Hertha Berlin but with a far superior goal difference, ‘Die Roten’ will need to snap a six-game winless streak (D4, L2) and hope Hertha lose a tricky season finale to Dortmund to guarantee avoiding their third relegation in five top-flight seasons.
Stuttgart will likely be grateful that this huge game is at home after registering both of their wins in 2022 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena amid a run of just one defeat here in their last five league games (W2, D2). Failing to keep a single clean sheet at home all season is a major worry though, as is their abysmal H2H record here versus opponents Cologne, who they’ve only beaten once across the last 13 Bundesliga H2Hs at home (D5, L7).
Pellegrino Matarazzo’s Stuttgart side might do well to look at Cologne, who are proof of how quickly things can change, after they only escaped relegation last season by virtue of winning their relegation play-off. Yet in a dramatic turn of form, the visitors have already secured Europa Conference League football next season and victory here could see them qualify for the Europa League, though they rely on other results going their way to make that happen.
A 1-0 loss to Wolfsburg last time out ended the Billy Goats’ best winning run of the season at four games, each of which saw them score at least three times. A return to that goalscoring form would surely trouble a Stuttgart defence which has conceded a whopping 1.94 goals per game on home soil over the campaign and failed to keep out Cologne in the last 11 H2Hs here.
Players to watch: Since the beginning of 2020/21, Stuttgart’s Saša Kalajdžić has scored nine league goals from Borna Sosa assists, a figure only beaten by Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski via Thomas Müller assists (14). Meanwhile, Cologne striker Anthony Modeste has netted four goals in his last four Bundesliga appearances to take his tally to 19 for the league campaign, with a whopping 47% of those being headed strikes.
Hot stat: There’s been at least one goal scored in all Bundesliga matches involving Cologne this season.[br]