Niko Kovac wants to see Borussia Dortmund replicate the levels they displayed in the second half against Hamburg when they take on Stuttgart on Saturday.

Dortmund fell 2-0 down to Hamburg in their last Bundesliga game, but fought back to win 3-2.

Ramy Bensebaini scored a pair of penalties, either side of fellow substitute Serhou Guirassy netting.

Dortmund are nine points behind Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich with seven games to play, while third-place Stuttgart are eight points further back.

And Kovac knows BVB will have to put on a full, 90-minute display to come away from MHPArena with a positive result.

"We need to show over 90 minutes what we showed against Hamburg in the second half," he said.

"That will be crucial, because if we don’t manage that, it will certainly be much harder to get anything from the game.

"We want to win the game. Second against third – that's an interesting match and, of course, we want to win it."

BVB will be without midfielder Felix Nmecha, who is likely to miss the rest of the season after sustaining a knee injury against Hamburg.

"We have [Julian Brandt], a player who can replace him. We have Carney [Chukwuemeka]. We have one or two options," said Kovac.

"They are certainly highly motivated and ready for the weekend. But I don't want to make the decision now, I'll wait until Saturday."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Stuttgart - Deniz Undav

Undav, who netted for Germany at MHPArena on Monday, has scored in six consecutive Bundesliga games for the first time – he could equal the club record held by Fredi Bobic in 1995-96 and Sasa Kalajdzic in 2020-21.

Since the start of the century, only two German players have scored in seven consecutive Bundesliga games: Stefan Kiessling in 2013 for Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Timo Werner in 2019 for RB Leipzig.

Undav has scored 18 goals in the Bundesliga this season, equalling his best record from the 2023-24 season – only Guirassy has scored more goals for Stuttgart after 27 matchdays of a Bundesliga season, in 2023-24 (23).

Borussia Dortmund - Serhou Guirassy

Since the start of the 2023-24 season, only Bayern's Harry Kane (114) has accumulated more direct goal involvements in the Bundesliga than Guirassy (67). 

The striker will be going up against his former club, and will be eager to make his mark.

MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

Under Sebastian Hoeness, Stuttgart have not lost any of their seven competitive matches against Dortmund (W5 D2) – only against Augsburg have they played more often under Hoeness without losing a single game (eight times).

In the 17 previous meetings with Dortmund, Stuttgart had suffered 14 defeats (W2 D1).

Stuttgart are enjoying their second-best Bundesliga season with 53 points after 27 games; only in their 2023-24 runners-up season did they have more points after 27 matches (57).

They have lost only one of their last 14 Bundesliga games (W9 D4), a 1-2 defeat at St. Pauli in early February.

Dortmund are having their best Bundesliga season in seven years with 61 points after 27 games; in 2018-19, they had 63 points at this stage. In the three-points-for-a-win era, a second-placed team after 27 games has only once had more points, also Borussia Dortmund in 2015-16 (64).

Only Bayern have averaged more shots on target per game (8.7) than Stuttgart (6.0) in the Bundesliga this season. Dortmund, however, have allowed just 3.5 opposition shots on target per game, with only Bayern allowing fewer (2.7).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Stuttgart - 41.1%

Draw - 23.9%

Borussia Dortmund - 35%