Matchday in focus: Youthful enterprise | OneFootball

Stuttgart and Frankfurt share many on-field traits, include a young starting line-up and similar statistics in terms of passing, possession and duels won.

Tactics

Sebastian Hoeneß, who has been in charge at VfB Stuttgart for over 1,000 days since taking the reins in April 2023, has established clear patterns of play stemming from a 4-2-3-1 formation. 

“Stuttgart combine top-class football with physicality,” said Dino Toppmöller at his pre-match press conference. “They’re good at pressing, they’re aggressive at the back and defend well from the front. That’s how they won the game in Leverkusen – in the first half especially.”

Absentees

VfB will be without injured quartet Luca Jaquez, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Lazar Jovanovic and Tiago Tomás, while Bilal El Khannouss is still at the Africa Cup of Nations, where he has helped Morocco reach the semi-finals. 

For Eintracht, Elias Baum, Timothy Chandler, Michy Batshuayi and Jonathan Burkardt are all out injured. Farès Chaibi will play no part following his involvement at the Africa Cup of Nations. 

One to watch: Jeff Chabot

For Jeff Chabot, the match against Eintracht represents a trip down memory lane, as the Hanau native played in the Eagles’ youth academy between 2005 and 2014. The 1.95-metre German, who also has French ancestry, is a rock at the heart of Stuttgart’s backline, focusing primarily on defensive steel and winning tackles. 

The centre-back was involved in the creation of two of his side’s goals in the recent 4-1 victory in Leverkusen, going a long way to mitigate the fact that he conceded the penalty in the second half that allowed the hosts to pull a goal back. Hoeneß himself didn’t seem to mind too much, subsequently praising Chabot for “doing lots of things right”. 

Furthermore, Chabot …

Facts and figures

The average age of VfB’s starting line-up in the Bundesliga this term is 25 years and 198 days. Eintracht’s is 25 years and 133 days, with only Werder Bremen boasting a more youthful first XI at 25 years and 86 days. VfB are the only Bundesliga team not to concede a headed goal in 2025/26 so far.

Stuttgart have picked up ten points from losing positions this season, level with Hoffenheim. Freiburg lead the way with 11, with Eintracht and Bayern Munich close behind on eight apiece.Deniz Undav finished the 2025 calendar year with more direct goal involvements than any other German player in the Bundesliga (16 goals and nine assists).

Having now overseen 92 matches, Hoeneß has the best points-per-game average of any coach in Stuttgart’s history (1.79).