On Wednesday, starting with 17:30, the Schalke – Cologne match will be played, within the 17th round of the Bundesliga. Cologne is unbeaten in 9 of the last 10 direct matches in the Bundesliga and has not lost in the previous 5 visits to Gelsenkirchen. Last season, the “carpets” won 3-0 at home and drew away, score 1-1.
Two defeats (0-3 with Hertha, 1-3 with Frankfurt) and an extraordinary victory (4-0 with Hoffenheim) is Christian Gross’s record on Schalke’s bench. The “miners” returned to the last place in the Bundesliga after the defeat in Frankfurt, corroborated with the point won by Mainz in Dortmund (1-1), both teams having 7 points in 16 stages. Five of these points were scored by Schalke at home, where Gross and his students hope to win at least one more point against Cologne.
With only two victories of the season, but 12 points in the standings, Cologne ranks 16th, one in the playoffs to stay in the Bundesliga. Thus, it is a very important duel to avoid relegation, any point could prove crucial at the end of the season. Markus Gisdol’s “tapes” have lost only one of the last 5 away matches in the Bundesliga, but 12 other teams have a better external record. After a start to the season in which the defense betrayed her, now Cologne has 3 stages from the previous 6 without a goal, the last after a 0-0 at home with Hertha.
Cologne has an excellent record in the disputes with Schalke, but the “miners” will shoot at any point until the end of the season, led on the field by a Kolasinac unjustly ignored by Mikel Arteta at Arsenal.
Cologne is unbeaten in 9 of the last 10 direct matches in the Bundesliga;
Cologne have not lost in their previous 5 visits to Schalke in the Bundesliga;
Last season, Cologne won 3-0 at home and drew away, 1-1;
Schalke: Fährmann – Becker, Kabak, Nastasic, Kolasinac (c) – Raman, Stambouli, Serdar, Harit – Hoppe, Uth
Coach: Christian Gross
Koln: T. Horn – Cestic, Bornauw, Czichos – Ehizibue, Skhiri, Hector (c), Jakobs – Wolf, Drexler – Duda
Coach: Markus Gisdol
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / YES @ 1,84
