By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Winless Borussia Mönchengladbach travel to VfB Stuttgart, who sits 13th, hoping to break the spell collect maximum points at MHPArena on Friday evening.
Stuttgart have more Bundesliga wins (46) and clean sheets (36) against Mönchengladbach than against any other club. Gladbach have lost their first six games of a top-flight campaign for the first time and defeat in Stuttgart would make them the first in 63 years of Bundesliga football to also lose their seventh match.
The string of defeats has also led to general unrest at the former champions, with the fan umbrella body calling for the resignation of president Rainer Bonhof.
On Saturday, surprise kids SV Elversberg in sixth will make the trip to RB Leipzig in seventh, while second-to-bottom 1. FC Union Berlin will hope to improve their standings at FC Augsburg in tenth.
Leipzig and Elversberg last met in the 3. Liga in 2013-14, with the former promoted and the latter relegated. Now they face off in the Bundesliga, with Vincent Wagner’s newcomers a point and place better off and looking to end Leipzig’s club record run of eight straight home wins in the league.
FC Köln will welcome FC Schalke 04 for a Rhein-Ruhr-Derby, both sides eager to better their records this season, while the evening match likewise promises plenty of suspense when second-placed Borussia Dortmund host Eintracht Frankfurt.
Schalke 04’s Loris Karius has the division’s best save rate at 82 percent and has kept three clean sheets in four Bundesliga appearances against 1. Köln. The Billy Goats are on a run of 20 Bundesliga games without a shut-out but have scored in all 13 home fixtures in 2026.
Four wins and now two draws in a row leave Dortmund with the same record they had at this stage last season. They have more wins and goals against Frankfurt than against any other club in the Bundesliga. Another defeat for Eintracht would be their 500th away from home in the top flight.
Bayern München, after reclaiming top spot, will hope to solidify their standing at SC Freiburg in third, a tough opponent.
The champions have scored only four of their 22 Bundesliga goals this season on the road. Freiburg are looking to win their first four home fixtures of a top flight campaign for only the second time (after promotion in 2016-17) but have won only one of their last 46 league meetings with Bayern.
TSG Hoffenheim, who are facing Bayer 04 Leverkusen are on the verge of their 1,000th Bundesliga goal (999 so far) but are also not far from the same milestone for conceding (995 in 618 games).