RB Leipzig lost their opening Bundesliga fixture of the season at Bayer Leverkusen and they are looking to bounce back against the current leaders VfB Stuttgart, who thrashed VfL Bochum 5-0. The pair meet at the Red Bull Arena on Friday night at 7:30pm.

Team news:

Despite losing their captain Wataru Endo to Liverpool last week, VfB Stuttgart had an excellent finish to the week as they cruised past VfL Bochum in a 5-0 showing at the MHPArena. Sebastian Hoeneß’ men were very impressive and two of them managed to bag braces in the dominant display. They were Serhou Guirassy and Silas Katompa Mvumba. It was certainly an excellent way to get Stuttgart up and running in this year’s Bundesliga but they will certainly be facing a bigger test in RB Leipzig this Friday evening.

RB Leipzig lost 3-2 to Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen on the opening weekend but there were positives for coach Marco Rose to take moving forward. And with his side in front of a home crowd this weekend, they could be in line to get off the mark in the Bundesliga as they look to build on last year’s third-place finish. Although they tasted defeat last weekend, they comfortably defeated reigning champions Bayern Munich 3-0 the week prior to claim the DFL-Supercup.

Dani Olmo to score anytime at 12/5

RB Leipzig are very lucky to have Spanish forward Dani Olmo in their ranks. He has been a consistent player for the German side and luckily for them, despite numerous rumours of a transfer to a bigger club, they’ve managed to hold onto him. Any success Die Roten Bullen hope to have this season centres around Olmo, he is one of their key figures.

The 25-year-old regularly has a positive impact on his side’s performances and he now looks to be adding goals to his game. He found the back of the net against both Bayern and Bayer Leverkusen, scoring a hat-trick against the former, so he’s already in a goalscoring mood this early into the campaign. A price of 12/5 for him to find the back of the net at any time against Stuttgart this Friday seems like great value for a player who is in fine form right now.

RB Leipzig to win and both teams to score – 9/5

With the greatest respect to Stuttgart, although they are heading into this match full of confidence, they are playing a much tougher opponent than Bochum. RB Leipzig were a strong force under Rose last year and that is expected to continue in 2023-24. They were beaten by a Bayer Leverkusen side who will be looking to break into the top four this year.

At home they will be fancied to get their first win of the season under their belt, but it won’t necessarily be routine. We’ve seen that Stuttgart have goals in their side and cannot be underestimated. But when you factor in the fact that RB Leipzig lost just two of their 17 home matches in the Bundesliga in 2022-23 and that impressive home form played a massive part in their success. Expect this to be just as important for them this term.