Hoffenheim will travel to Gelsenkirchen this Friday to face Schalke 04 in the tenth round of the 2022/23 Bundesliga season.
Venue: Veltins Arena (Gelsenkirchen)
Key Statistics
Schalke’s home league games have witnessed a league-high five goals on average, whilst all four also saw both teams score.
The hosts have won just one of their last nine games this season (D3, L5).
Only Bochum (23) have conceded more goals than Schalke (21) this season.
Hoffenheim have won just one of their four away league games this season (D1, L2).
The visitors have won just one of their last nine league games against newly-promoted teams (W1, D4, L4).
They have just scored five goals from four away outings.
Head to head
Hoffenheim have five wins in their last ten meetings with Schalke. The hosts have two wins in those ten games (D3).
Latest performances in all competitions
Schalke: L-L-W-L-W
Hoffenheim: L-D-D-W-L
Schalke
Schalke will look to win just their second league game of the season when they welcome Hoffenheim to Veltins Arena this Friday.
The hosts under Frank Kramer have started the season with one win, three draws and five defeats. Their last outing was a huge 4-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen, leaving them sitting in the relegation playoff spot.
The result was Schalke’s third league loss on the bounce and has led to media reports claiming that manager Frank Kramer’s time is almost up with ex-Bochum coach Thomas Reis the man rumoured as a potential successor.
And so, this crunch game against Hoffenheim is Kramer’s last chance to show his worth in Schalke. The writing appears to be on the wall for Kramer unless he can guide Schalke to their first win since beating Bochum more than a month ago – the game that got his potential replacement sacked.
Possible Schalke starting line-up
Alexander Schwolow; Cedric Brunner, Mehmet Aydin, Maya Yoshida, Thomas Ouwejan; Dominik Drexler, Tom Krauß, Florian Flick, Marius Bulter; Simon Terodde, Sebastian Polter.
Injured: Tobias Mohr, Leo Greiml, Henning Matriciani, Rodrigo Zalazar, Sepp van den Berg, Ibrahim Cisse, Marcin Kaminski.
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Hoffenheim
After starting the season well, with three wins in their first four league games, the wheels seem to have come off for Hoffenheim in the league.
The visitors travel to Gelsenkirchen in faltering form, and after losing 2-1 to Bremen in the last round they’re now winless in three Bundesliga games for the first time this season (D2, L1).
Their form is also worse when you throw in their record against the newly-promoted side. They come into this tie with a record of just one win in their last nine league games against newly-promoted teams (W1, D4, L4).
And so they will go into this clash against a Schalke side in desperate need of points that will take them closer to the top six–which is their target for this season.
With all four of Hoffenheim’s away points this season coming against bottom-half opponents, they will fancy their chances of getting a win in this game. However, with just five goals from four away outings (W1, D1, L2), the visitors have proven that they are by no means prolific on the road, and will give Schalke coach Kramer the glimmer of hope he needs as he clings onto his job.
Possible Hoffenheim starting line-up
Oliver Baumann; Ozan Kabak, Kevin Vogt, Stanley Nsoki; Pavel Kaderabek, Girscha Proemel, Dennis Geiger, Andrej Kramaric, Angelino; Christoph Baumgartner, Munas Dabbur.
Injured: Robert Skov, Ermin Bicakcic, Benjamin Hubner, Ihlas Bebou
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Schalke 0-1 Hoffenhiem
