Bundesliga: Schalke 04 vs. Stuttgart Preview, Odds, Prediction

Schalke 04 and Stuttgart open Round 6 of the Bundesliga this Friday, in a match of the utmost importance for both sides. The home team is near the bottom of the standings, while visitors try to keep pace with the top teams and stay in the chase for the European competitions. Even though it is still early to make any long-term projections, this is a must-win game for either of the participants. 

Preview

Schalke (+220) has just one point in five games since the campaign started. That only draw came against Union Berlin, 1-1 at Veltins Arena. Prior to it, the Miners defeated Paderborn in a friendly game, but that didn’t boost their morale as expected. 

The goal-difference of the team from Gelsenkirchen will tell you all about their state – 2 scored goals, and 19 conceded. We have to underline that they allowed three or more scores in each game apart from the one against Union.

So far, we might say that Manuel Baum’s side is right now the biggest disappointment of the season, and one of the top favorites for relegation to Zweite.

Stuttgart (+110) comes into this matchup in a different mood. They lost just one game, and occupy the fifth position in the standings. That lone loss was against Freiburg at home 2-3.

After that, Die Schwaben won three and had two draws, the most recent at home to Koln. What is interesting with them is that they have a perfect score on the road – four wins and just one conceded goal. 

Also, the latest four events, including the club-friendly vs. Freiburg, all ended with a moderate efficiency, 2 or 3 goals.

Latest News

The Miners have two players who won’t appear in Friday’s game. Kabak is suspended due to a red card, and Serdar has a muscle injury. Fahrann is doubtful, but it is expected to see the goalie in the protocol for this matchup. 

On the other side, Stuttgart has numerous troubles with injuries. Nine of their player are ineligible – Mola, Thommy, Mavropanos, Kempf, Awoudja, Wamangituka, Anton, Endo. Pellegrino Matarazzo will have hard headaches before the start of this match. Several of the players were injured during last weekend’s challenge, which is creating colossal problems now.

Head to Head Matches

The Miners have an excellent history against Stuttgart, because they haven’t lost the last eight head to head events. During that span, Schalke won seven times with two draws. One of those draws was, in fact, the previous game of these two big rivals.

Prediction

We predict an interesting game at Veltins Arena. Schalke doesn’t know how to defend, while on the other side, Stuttgart knows that they might reach a win here if they crack the rivals fast enough. Therefore, the guests need to attacks and pressure the opponent right away. 

All this suggests that betting on high efficiency would be profitable. Over 2.5 goals are priced at -125, and that is enough for our standards. But, if some among you would like to have a bigger profit, add both teams to score to the previous recommendation. Odd there are -105.