Borussia Monchengladbach gained a valuable point against relegation in playing out a scoreless draw at home to Stuttgart, whose Bundesliga struggles continued.

Monchengladbach have collected two draws and a surprise victory over Hamburg in the past three weeks and now sit in 12th place - three points above the drop zone.

Markus Babbel's Stuttgart side are still looking to turn things around, with only one victory in the last 10 games as well as just one goal in the last five.

Gladbach started the game on the offensive but Marco Reus and Karim Matmour both shot past the right upright in the eighth minute.

Stuttgart striker Pavel Pogrebnyak struck his shot the wrong side of the left-hand post from only five yards out 11 minutes later.

Matthieu Delpierre then headed just over the crossbar from five yards eight minutes before the break for the visitors.

Both teams had a big chance just before half-time but Arthur Boka cleared Reus' dangerous cross in the 45th minute and Stuttgart defender Georg Niedermeier headed wide from six yards a minute into stoppage time.

Five minutes after the restart Rob Friend's header from five yards was stopped by Stuttgart keeper Jens Lehmann, who also fended away the second attempt.

The away side missed a golden opportunity to take the lead with 17 minutes to play but Zdravko Kuzmanovic's fierce strike from 14 yards out thudded off the right post.

Stuttgart were just off target again with 12 minutes to play as Juan Arango's 18-yard blast sailed over the bar and both sides had to settle for a point.