VfB Stuttgart beat Werder Bremen 1-0 on Mittelstädt's early strike

Maximilian Mittelstädt settled VfB Stuttgart vs Werder Bremen inside seven minutes and VfB Stuttgart held on for a 1-0 win at the MHP-Arena. Dennis Seimen then made five saves to keep the clean sheet intact, while Werder Bremen's seven-match unbeaten Bundesliga run came to an end.

Mittelstädt and Seimen decide it

The winning move was simple enough. Grischa Prömel slipped the ball into Mittelstädt's path, and the Stuttgart defender finished in the 7th minute. That early goal gave Stuttgart the edge they needed, and Mittelstädt's all-round influence was reflected in his 8.2 match rating.

He was more than a scorer, too. Mittelstädt also hit three shots on target, which fits the way Stuttgart kept carrying a threat even after taking the lead. The game never turned into a siege, but it did ask questions of Bremen whenever Stuttgart got forward.

Seimen answered the rest. His five saves mattered because Werder did create pressure at times, and Stuttgart's back line had to stay switched on to protect the narrow lead.

Werder's run ends and Füllkrug is held down

Werder's defeat snapped a seven-match unbeaten Bundesliga run and left them without the result they had been chasing. Niclas Füllkrug started the match and finished with five shots and one yellow card, but he never found the goal that might have changed the night.

Daniel Thioune's praise before kickoff made clear how highly Werder valued him in this mood. Speaking to SPORT1, and translated from German, Thioune said: "Mega, what he is doing right now. He is very sexy at the moment,". Stuttgart still managed to keep him quiet enough to protect a lead that came very early and never slipped away.

The result was Stuttgart's first back-to-back Bundesliga wins this season, which is a better sign than the table position would suggest. More importantly for this match, they got the balance right after the early goal and did not let Bremen turn control into an equaliser.