Hoffenheim vs Schalke 04

Hoffenheim has made a good psychological win away against Gladbach (1-2) and now they are 3 points over the dangerous relegation zone. Hoffenheim has never won a game at home after last October, although they always score at home or away! Against Schalke, they will try and play counter-offensively in order to score at least one, as they Marcus Babbel said: “Schalke is very strong but they had a difficult European match a few days ago (vs Bilbao lost 4-2 at home). Bilbao showed us what we can do in counter-offense. Raul and Hundelaar are always dangerous and we must be careful, but if we score first then it will be easier for us.” Hoffenheim has only one absence, the stopper Compper. Their system is 4-2-4-1, with Babel up front and Salihovic – Vukcevic to support the attack from behind. In their last 10 match they had only 1 game that they didnt score, against Hannover 0-0.

 

Schalke have a very important problem today. Their third goalkeeper has been injured! So, after the firs and second goalkeeper, now Hildebrand is injured too! Matias Sober (36 year old) is the fourth keeper and had to come on the game against Bilbao (he never played a minute since 2009!), and he was responsible of the 3rd goal. Matias is clearly out of fitness, without his responsibility as no one could believe this would happen.. So, Matias will play against Hoffenheim as Hildebrand is unfit to play yet. At the bench, Schalke will have the U-23 and U-19 goalkeepers. Hundelaar said: “we trust Matias and if he gets injured too, I can play at the goalposts!” tried to get the pressure out of his teamplayer. Schalke had a bad evening against Bilbao although they scored 2, and now it gets impossible for them to continue to Europe. In the league, they need to take advantage of Gladbachs defeat in order to get extra advantage for the 3rd place and look forward to get closer to the second (7 points away). They have the second best attack in the league and thats their strong point. There will be only two absences, stopper Medzelder and defender midfielder Howedes. Their system 4-2-3-1 is ideal for attacking and keeping the defense tight. However, they always concede goals (and now it will be even easier for opponents with Matias at goalposts).

 

MY BET: There is the belief that Schalke can win this, although Hoff has a good psychology now and will try their best. However, it is unknown if Schalke will be disappointed or tired from the Bilbao match, so its better to stay away from the away win. These two teams score many goals and so you can go with the conservative G/G bet at 1.70 odds, which is the best statistical choice, supported by the fact that Schalke has the worst goalkeeper they could have for this game.. Hoffenheim always scores at least 1 at their home, Schalke always gets at least one when away….and thats how we want it to stay…

 

Bet: G/G (both teams to score) @1.70 with Bet365