Preview: Schalke 04 vs. Hoffenheim - prediction, team news, lineups

The visitors, meanwhile, are winless in three matches, but they can still climb up to third in the table with a victory.

Match preview

After making a decent enough start to life back in the Bundesliga with six points from six matches following their promotion as champions last season, three successive defeats have since seen Schalke drop into the relegation playoff position in the table.

Only Stuttgart's and VfL Bochum's dismal form below them is keeping the Bundesliga 2 champions out of serious hot water, although Schalke's club management have demanded an "improved performance against Hoffenheim in all respects" after their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen last weekend.

In normal circumstances a defeat of that nature to Leverkusen would be no disgrace for a team expected to be fighting against relegation, but Die Werkself headed into the meeting in the relegation zone themselves having only won one of their opening eight games.

Yet, with former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso in the BayArena home dugout for the first time, they completely dominated Schalke, who managed just two shots across the entire match as goals from Moussa Diaby and Paulinho sandwiched a Jeremie Frimpong brace during the rout.

Clearly, head coach Frank Kramer is under significant pressure to improve performances and results quickly, otherwise he could find himself out of a job with the threat of an instant return to Germany's second tier increasingly looming for his side.

Hoffenheim, meanwhile, suffered a disappointing 2-1 defeat at home to Werder Bremen last Friday night, with Niclas Fullkrug's 87th-minute penalty snatching all three points for the visitors.

Munas Dabbur had levelled the proceedings in the first half after Marvin Ducksch broke the deadlock in the 18th minute, but Andre Breitenreiter's side could not find a winner before being hit by Fullkrug's late sucker punch after a lengthy VAR review.

Die Kraichgauer's strong start to the campaign means there is no need for any panic whatsoever despite them failing to win for over a month now, especially as Werder Bremen goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka was in excellent form to deny them on several occasions.

However, a fourth consecutive failure to win against a side desperately struggling in the form of Schalke on Friday may begin to get alarm bells ringing.

Schalke 04 Bundesliga form:

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D

W

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L

Hoffenheim Bundesliga form:

W

L

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D

D

L

Team News

Tobias Mohr was replaced by Thomas Ouwejan at half-time of Schalke's defeat to Leverkusen last week due to illness, while Leo Greiml is struggling with a knock.

Ouwejan offers a natural alternative and is therefore likely to start if there are any doubts around Mohr's energy levels, but with Henning Matriciani, Rodrigo Zalazar, Sepp van den Berg, Ibrahima Cisse and Marcin Kaminski all ruled out through injury, Greiml may be asked to play through the pain barrier.

Kramer could bring Danny Latza into his midfield in order to inject more energy and experience, but otherwise the 50-year-old has few options to mix things up as he looks to save his job.

Hoffenheim, on the other hand, appear to have several players returning from injury, but Robert Skov, Ermin Bicakcic, Benjamin Hubner and Ihlas Bebou are all unlikely to make the trip to Gelsenkirchen.

Pavel Kaderabek is likely to replace Skov at wing-back, as he did during the second half against Bremen due to the Denmark international sustaining a groin injury, in potentially the only change for the visitors.

Schalke 04 possible starting lineup:

Schwolow; Brunner, Greiml, Yoshida, Ouwejan; Drexler, Krauss, Latza, Bulter; Polter, Terrode

Hoffenheim possible starting lineup:

Baumann; Kabak, Vogt, Nsoki; Skov, Promel, Geiger, Angelino; Baumgartner, Kramaric; Dabbur

We say: Schalke 04 1-2 Hoffenheim

We expect Hoffenheim to return to winning ways away to Schalke on Friday, with defeat potentially signalling the end of Kramer's time in charge in Gelsenkirchen.

A fourth successive defeat could see Schalke drop to the bottom of the Bundesliga depending on results elsewhere over the weekend, and performances of late have simply not been good enough.

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