Leverkusen, who travel to Liverpool for the Champions League on Tuesday, have now won just one of their last five league games, and are in third place on 16 points.

Bayern Munich, top on 20, host Union Berlin tomorrow.

RB Leipzig are second on goal difference.

Xabi Alonso’s team had Stuttgart on the back foot from the start and in a one-sided first half the hosts missed more than half a dozen golden scoring chances and hit the crossbar with Edmond Tapsoba’s header.

Stuttgart keeper Alexander Nuebel was in stunning form, stopping efforts from Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo in the first half to keep them in the game.

With the visitors, who host Atalanta in the Champions League on Wednesday, not managing a single shot on or towards goal for an hour, Leverkusen kept pouring forward.

Victor Boniface rattled the post with a powerful shot eight minutes after the restart as Leverkusen picked up where they had left off.

Nuebel then had to come to the rescue again, first denying Nigeria international Boniface in a one-on-one in the 73rd before blocking a Florian Wirtz effort a little later to make sure Stuttgart got their point.

Stuttgart, last season’s runners-up, move up to seventh place on 13 points.