Still battling for their survival in the Bundesliga, Schalke welcome Oliver Glasner’s Eintracht Frankfurt to Veltins-Arena on Saturday afternoon.
After playing in 2. Bundesliga for the first time since 1991 last season, Schalke made their swift return to the top flight after being crowned champions in 2022. However, they are in danger of going straight back down, currently occupying a relegation play-off spot.
A 6-0 mauling away to league leaders Bayern Munich in their last match was a bit of a kick in the teeth but realistically, Die Königsblauen were not expected to pick up a result at the Allianz Arena.
Schalke have performed at a reasonable level in 2023, in spite of their poor standing in the division, and rank in mid-table based off of their last 15 games. They have also picked up three wins in their last five in the Bundesliga but need more points from their final two fixtures if they are to evade the drop.
The visitors have been disappointing since the turn of the year and have registered just one league victory in their last 11. That came in a 3-0 triumph at home to Mainz last time out, keeping their chances of qualifying for Europe next season alive but by a slim margin. Frankfurt would need both Wolfsburg and Bayer Leverkusen to drop points in each of their final two matches to be in with a chance of reaching the Europa Conference League.
Nevertheless, it has been an interesting season for Die Adler after escapades in the Champions League and in the DFB Pokal. In fact, they could still be in with a chance of some silverware this term and will face RB Leipzig in the final of the cup competition. Still, they have the Bundesliga to focus on first and will be aiming to find their first three points on their travels since November.
Frankfurt easily dispatched Schalke in the reverse fixture with a 3-0 win at Deutsche Bank Park. However, Die Königsblauen did register a 4-3 victory the last time the two sides faced off in Gelsenkirchen, making it consecutive victories on their own turf against Die Adler. Frankfurt last beat Schalke away from home back in 2019.
Randal Kolo Muani remains the stalwart up top for the away side and will be looking to add to his goal tally of 14 in the Bundesliga so far. The Frenchman has been in strong form of late too, registering six goals for his side in his last eight appearances.
As for the hosts, Marius Butler has played a pivotal role in Schalke’s resurgence since the turn of the year. An impressive run in March saw him get on the scoresheet in every appearance that month and the 30-year-old has also hit the back of the net a total of four times in his last five outings. However, he will be unavailable for this one due to suspension in what is a big loss.
Moritz Jenz will be able to return from his spell on the sidelines for this one but Jere Uronen will miss out due to muscular issues. Sepp van den Berg, Soichiro Kozuki, Ralf Fahrmann and Justin Heekeren are all expected to miss out as well due to injury.
The visitors are also expected to be dealing with plenty of selection issues here since Hrvoje Smolcic, Philipp Max, Kristijan Jakic and Lucas Alario are unlikely to feature due to injury. However, Jesper Lindström has recovered from illness in time for this one, whilst Rafael Borre will make his return after serving his suspension last time out.
Expert Insight: Frankfurt have been abysmal away from home for some time now and with Schalke fighting for their lives down at the bottom, home advantage could be huge. Of course, the loss of top goalscorer Butler will hit the hosts hard too so we could see this ending as a stalemate.
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