OB present tough nut to crack for Stuttgart

Still on the lookout for a new coach following the dismissal of Lars Olsen in the week of Matchday 1, Odense BK will look to extend an impressive European home run against VfB Stuttgart in UEFA Europa League Group H.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA club competition.

• OB's six European games against German sides ended W1 D3 L2 (W1 D1 L0 at home). They have never lost to a German side in a UEFA Cup or UEFA Europa League game, recording a win and three draws.

• Stuttgart's only previous meeting with Danish opponents in UEFA club competition was in a 1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup game at home against Aalborg BK, in which Jesper Grønkjær – who would play for VfB in 2005/06 – scored the goal in a 1-0 win for the visitors.

Match background 
• OB are unbeaten in ten European home games – six wins and four draws – since a 2-1 loss to Parma FC in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup group stage.

• Stuttgart have yet to lose in five European games this season.

• The German side have lost just one of their last seven European away games, with a 4-0 UEFA Champions League first knockout round defeat at FC Barcelona breaking up a run which includes four wins and two draws.

• All three of Stuttgart's UEFA Cup group stage campaigns ended with qualification for the knockout phase. Odense's only attempt, in 2006/07, ended in a narrow failure.

Team facts
• OB parted ways with coach Lars Olsen on 14 September, bringing to an end a three-year tenure at the club. They have installed Uffe Pedersen in a caretaker role, the 56-year-old having previously been in charge at OB between 2002 and 2004.

• Stuttgart's once-capped Swiss coach Christian Gross was a defender for the likes of Grasshopper-Club, FC Lausanne-Sport, Neuchâtel Xamax FC and VfL Bochum 1848. He won six Swiss titles and five cups in spells as coach of Grasshoppers and FC Basel 1893 either side of his 1997/98 stint at Tottenham Hotspur FC, and joined Stuttgart in December 2009.