Stuttgart will be looking to put a dent into Bayern’s title hopes when they host the Bavarians on Sunday afternoon and there is a good chance that we are going to see a very interesting game at Mercedes-Benz Arena.

After spending a big part of the previous league campaign involved in the relegation race, Stuttgart desperately needed to show some improvement this season.

Led by talented coach Bruno Labbadia, the Swabians enjoyed a pretty good start to the Bundesliga campaign, and despite winning just one of last four games, the team still sit in the top half of the table, three points adrift of European places.

Stuttgart have been pretty convincing at home of late, beating Hoffenheim and Augsburg, while sharing spoils with Borussia Dortmund and Koln, and Unibet now pays 2.45 (29/20) on Stuttgart not to lose.

Khalid Boulahrouz has joined the injury list that already contains Johan Audel, Mathieu Delpierre, Stefano Celozzi and Marc Ziegler.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Ulreich – Boka, Tasci, Maza, Molinaro – Kvist, Gentner – Harnik, Hajnal, Okazaki – Cacau.

Boosted by some shrewd summer recruitment, Bayern started this season in style, hinting that nobody would be able to stop them from winning the Bundesliga title.

Even if the Bavarians have since slowed down a bit, having recorded three defeats in last five games in all competitions, they are still looking good and it is only a matter of time before they returned to the right track.

Teams like Schalke, Borussia Dortmund and Borussia M’gladbach managed to take advantage of Bayern’s recent slip ups to close the gap behind the Bavarians, but Jupp Heynckes’ side remain the number one favourites for the title, as witnessed by 1.44 (4/9) offered by Paddy Power.

After losing two of their last three league games, Bayern are very motivated to win this game and stay clear of the title rivals, so odds of 1.57 (4/7) offered by Sportingbet on away win do look tempting.

Bastian Schweinsteiger is not yet ready to return, whereas Breno is the only other unavailable player. Arjen Robben looks set to start on the wing, with Toni Kroos to partner Anatoliy Tymoschuk in centre midfield.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Neuer – Boateng, Van Buyten, Badstuber, Lahm – Kroos, Tymoschuk – Robben, Muller, Ribery – Gomez.