Stuttgart sweep strugglers aside

Stuttgart survived an early storm to breeze past winless Eintracht Braunschweig 4-0.

Stuttgart survived an early storm to breeze past winless Eintracht Braunschweig and move into the top six of the Bundesliga with a 4-0 away win. Braunschweig started the game brightly, but as soon as Vedad Ibisevic headed Stuttgart in front in the 40th minute, they crumbled to their sixth defeat in seven league games. Alexandru Maxim added a second early in the second half before Ibrahima Traore and Martin Harnik completed the rout as Stuttgart bounced back from defeat at Freiburg in the DFB-Pokal in midweek. Braunschweig coach Torsten Lieberknecht dismissed claims his side would be relegated with the worst ever record in Bundesliga history on the eve of the game, although he admitted his side faced a challenge staying up after five defeats. They started Sunday's game in positive fashion, Marco Caligiuri testing Thorsten Kirschbaum early on. For all their attacking intent, though, they were unable to truly test the stand-in Stuttgart goalkeeper, replacing the injured Sven Ulreich, and the efficient visitors struck with their first real chance. Ibisevic flicked Maxim's free-kick past Marjan Petkovic with the deftest of headed touches in the 40th minute. Maxim went from provider to goalscorer five minutes into the second half when he pounced on a fumble by Petkovic from Traore's shot, dispatching the ball into the far corner from a tight angle. Traore then got his name on the scoresheet in the 76th minute, exchanging passes with Christian Gentner before threading the ball inside the near post. There was even time for Traore to tee up Harnik for a fourth in the 86th minute, sending in a low cross which the Austrian could not miss from two yards out.