Mid-placed Bayer Leverkusen travel to VELTINS-Arena to face struggling Schalke 04 in a round 26 game, which kicks-off on Saturday. The home side could do with a win to ease their trouble at the wrong end of the table.
Schalke 04 will be eager to finally claim a win after a couple of draws, however, one point could still prove acceptable against Bayer Leverkusen.
Schalke 04 scored eight goals, conceded 13 and fought their way to five clean sheets in their previous ten matches.
Bayer Leverkusen scored 20 goals, conceded 14 and held on for a clean sheet in one of their last ten matches.
Bayer Leverkusen got the better of Schalke 04 in their most recent meetings, as they first won 4-0, then 2-1.
Schalke 04 vs Bayer Leverkusen Prediction
Schalke 04 Form
The Schalke 04 team look in good shape before their match against Bayer Leverkusen, as they seek to remain unbeaten. Firstly, they beat Bochum 0-2, then they held B. Dortmund to a 2-2 draw. Their last outing resulted in a hard fought 1-1 draw Augsburg. In their last six Bundesliga matches at home, Schalke 04 have one win, while they've drawn three and lost two.
Bayer Leverkusen Form
In their last three matches, Bayer Leverkusen first beat Werder Bremen 2-3, then Ferencvaros by 0-2 and finally Bayern Munich by 2-1. Bayer Leverkusen won four times in their last six away games in the Bundesliga, in which they drew once and lost once. They conceded eight goals while scoring 12 themselves.
Form looks slightly more in favour of Bayer Leverkusen than odds suggests. We believe the bookmakers have placed a little too much faith in Schalke 04 and we like the prices on offer for the away win.
Bayer Leverkusen took six wins and 19 points in the previous eight encounters with opponents from the bottom six of the Bundesliga, as they scored 19 goals while also allowing eight against. Schalke 04 so far pulled off a record of four wins, nine draws and 12 defeats in the Bundesliga this season. Bayer Leverkusen so far pulled off 11 wins, four draws and ten defeats in the Bundesliga.
Schalke 04 vs Bayer Leverkusen Stats
- Schalke 04 have not won 14 of the last 16 matches
- Schalke 04 have not won 12 of the last 14 home matches
- Schalke 04 have not lost the last 7 matches in a row
- In 9 of the last 11 Schalke 04 matches the sum of goals was under 3.5
- Schalke 04 have not lost the last 4 home matches in a row
- Bayer Leverkusen have conceded in 21 of the last 23 away matches
- In 7 of the last 8 matches Bayer Leverkusen played, both teams scored
- In 5 of the last 7 Bayer Leverkusen matches the sum of goals was over 4.5
- In the last 4 away matches in a row Bayer Leverkusen played, both teams scored
- Bayer Leverkusen have scored in 13 of the last 15 matches
Schalke 04 vs Bayer Leverkusen Squads
Schalke 04 Squad
Bueskens will select the starting XI for the upcoming match against Bayer Leverkusen from the following players (the statistics in the brackets represent goals scored and matches played in the Bundesliga this season):
Alexander Schwolow (0/17), Denis Wieszolek (0/0), Justin Heekeren (0/0), Michael Langer (0/0), Ralf Faehrmann (0/8), Brooklyn Ezeh (0/0), Cedric Brunner (0/21), Eder Alvarez (0/0), Henning Matriciani (0/14), Ibrahima Cisse (0/0), Jere Uronen (0/6), Leo Greiml (0/5), Marcin Kaminski (0/0), Maya Yoshida (0/25), Moritz Jenz (0/8), Sepp van den Berg (0/4), Thomas Ouwejan (0/12), Timothee Kolodziejczak (0/0), Alex Kral (0/20), Blendi Idrizi (0/0), Danny Latza (0/13), Dominick Drexler (3/18), Mehmet Aydin (0/14), Nassim Boujellab (0/0), Niklas Tauer (0/0), Rodrigo Zalazar (1/15), Soichiro Kozuki (1/5), Suat Serdar (4/24), Tim Skarke (0/6), Tobias Mohr (0/15), Tom Krauss (1/25), Kenan Karaman (1/14), Marius Buelter (7/25), Michael Frey (0/10), Sebastian Polter (1/14), Sidi Sane (0/0), Simon Terodde (3/25).
Bayer Leverkusen Squad
Here is the full team squad of Bayer Leverkusen. The 41 year-old Xabi Alonso will select his starting lineup from the following players:
Andrey Lunev (0/1), Lukas Hradecky (0/24), Niklas Lomb (0/0), Patrick Pentz (0/0), Daley Sinkgraven (0/10), Edmond Tapsoba (1/25), Jeremie Frimpong (7/25), Jonathan Tah (1/24), Mitchel Bakker (3/20), Noah Mbamba (0/0), Odilon Kossounou (0/19), Piero Hincapie (1/22), Timothy Fosu-Mensah (0/9), Ayman Azhil (0/0), Charles Aranguiz (1/10), Exequiel Palacios (3/19), Florian Wirtz (0/9), Joshua Eze (0/0), Kerem Demirbay (3/20), Nadiem Amiri (3/19), Robert Andrich (2/23), Adam Hlozek (4/22), Amine Adli (2/17), Callum Hudson-Odoi (0/13), Karim Bellarabi (0/6), Moussa Diaby (8/24), Patrik Schick (3/14), Sardar Azmoun (2/14).
Schalke 04 vs Bayer Leverkusen Team News
The injured and absent list looks to be stretched wide for Schalke 04, as they prepare to meet Bayer Leverkusen, since seven could be missing.
Niklas Tauer, Justin Heekeren, Alex Kral, Thomas Ouwejan, Leo Greiml, Rodrigo Zalazar and Sepp van den Berg nurses various injuries and won't take part for Schalke 04 against Bayer Leverkusen at VELTINS-Arena.
Bayer Leverkusen are juggling with four absent players on on Saturday when travelling to Schalke 04.
Bayer Leverkusen need to do without Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Charles Aranguiz, Joshua Eze and Patrik Schick, who are not fit enough to travel to VELTINS-Arena.
Schalke 04 vs Bayer Leverkusen Lineups
Schalke 04 vs Bayer Leverkusen H2H
Bayer Leverkusen got the better of Schalke 04 in their most recent meetings, as they first won 4-0, then 2-1. In last ten encounters between the clubs, Bayer Leverkusen have been the dominant force winning five matches against Schalke 04. The bookies have Bayer Leverkusen to win this match at best price odds of 11/12.
Schalke 04 vs Bayer Leverkusen Results
Of the last ten encounters between Schalke 04 Bayer Leverkusen over 2.5 goals came out four times. Odds on over 2.5 goals are at 9/10 with bookies.
Schalke 04 vs Bayer Leverkusen Betting Tips
In their last 10 matches at VELTINS-Arena across all tournaments Schalke 04 won one times, drew five and lost four times. Bayer Leverkusen claimed seven wins, one draw and two defeats in their last 10 games away. Of the previous 10 outings away from home, Bayer Leverkusen scored the opening goal five times, whereas their hosts were first on target in two of their last 10 games on home soil.
Both teams scored seven times in the last ten encounters between Schalke 04 and Bayer Leverkusen, while over 2.5 goals came out six times. Schalke 04 scored 1.2 goals on average, while Bayer Leverkusen pulled 1.7 goals on average. Over 2.5 goals happened in four of Schalke 04’s last ten matches across all tournaments. They pulled off an average of 0.8 goals during this run. Over 2.5 goals came up in seven of Bayer Leverkusen's previous ten matches across all tournaments. They managed to score an average of 2.9 goals in these matches.
