Stuttgart look to stop the rot against Leverkusen

Tuesday's 2-0 defeat to Olympique Lyon was the third in succession and means Stuttgart look virtually certain to fall at the group phase while Armin Veh's side are also struggling domestically with just three wins in 10 games.

 Defeat to Leverkusen Saturday could see Stuttgart drop into the bottom three but the club's sporting director Horst Heldt said Thursday that the club's board remains confident things can be turned around.

 "There are absolutely no doubts that we will overcome this challenge," Held said following a meeting with Stuttgart president Erwin Staudt and finance head Ulrich Ruf.

 League leaders Bayern Munich face no such worries ahead of Sunday's trip to Borussia Dortmund. Ottmar Hitzfeld's side currently hold a six-point lead over Werder Bremen and SV Hamburg at the top and will be confident of maintaining their unbeaten start to the season.

 The match of the weekend sees Bremen up against fifth-placed Schalke 04. Bremen seem to be finding their feet after a slow start to the season and will be on a high after beating Lazio in midweek to register their first win in the Champions League.

 Schalke went down away to Chelsea in their European encounter and as they are already nine points behind Bayern with 10 games gone need to avoid defeat if they are to remain within touching distance of the leaders.

 Coach Mirko Slomka was missing six players for the trip to London but defenders Christian Pander and Mladen Krstajic and striker Kevin Kuranyi look likely to be fit for the visit of Bremen.

 Dario Rodriguez is struggling with a knee problem while Gerald Asamoah has a bruised foot but both should be also available for selection.

 "I hope that everything is cleared up by Saturday," said Slomka.

 Fourth-placed Karlsruhe visit Hansa Rostock, VfL Wolfsburg entertain Nuremberg, VfL Bochum travel to Hertha Berlin and bottom club Energie Cottbus take on Arminia Bielefeld in the day's other games.

 Hamburg travel to MSV Duisburg Sunday.

 Eintracht Frankfurt will be looking to bounce back from last week's 5-1 demolition by Nuremberg when they take on Hanover 96 in the Friday night game.

 "The defeat wasn't the end of the world for the club. My boys aren't so sentimental that they can't handle it. We are over it," said coach Friedhelm Funkel.

 Frankfurt will be without Iranian international Mehdi Mahdavikia, who has a thigh problem, while Christoph Spycher is also doubtful with a calf strain.

DPA