As the race for Champions League places hots up, Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen both hope to cement their top 4 berths with three points from Veltins Arena.

After reaching the Champions League quarter-finals two years back, but utterly failing to live up to their potential in Bundesliga, the Miners were hoping for a more balanced approach this season.

They seem to have managed in their quest as the team not only reached the Last 16 stage in Europe’s elite competition, but also mounted a serious top 4 challenge in Bundesliga.

Not everything was going according to plan under Huub Stevens, but the team improved considerably after the Belgian was replaced by Jens Keller.

Having been eliminated from the Champions League at the hands of Galatasaray, Schalke shifted their focus towards their domestic campaign, with back to back wins over Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen seeing them return to the top 4.

With the hosts brimming with confidence ahead the visit of Bayer Leverkusen, the Miners are 2.45 (29/20) at BetVictor to make it three victories in a row.

Jefferson Farfan has been added to the long injury list that already contained the likes of Lars Unnerstall, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Ibrahim Afellay, Klaas Jan Huntelaar, Tranquillo Barnetta and Chinedu Obasi, whereas Roman Neustadter is suspended.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Hildebrand – Uchida, Howedes, Matip, Kolasinac – Hoger, Jones – Draxler, Raphael, Bastos – Marica.

Bayer Leverkusen, on the other hand, have been pretty solid in Bundesliga over the last few years, but they never quite managed to prove their worth in Europe.

The trend continued this season as die Werkself couldn’t get past the first knockout round in Europa League, but they did manage to cement the third place in the league standings.

Sami Hyypia’s side have virtually secured the Champions League berth, being seven points clear of fifth-placed Freiburg, but they need to ward off competition for the third place from Schalke in order to avoid taking part in the Champions League qualifying stages.

Bayer are not really in great spirits at the moment, having failed to beat Wolfsburg at home, while they, too, have some important missings.

Nevertheless, having record a 4-1 victory in their previous away fixture, die Werkself are 3.20 (11/5) at William Hill to make it two on the bounce.

Sebastian Boenisch and Stefan Reinartz are both suspended, and Karim Bellarabi misses out through injury.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Leno – Carvajal, Wollscheid, Schwaab, Kadlec – Bender, Rolfes, Castro – Sam, Kiessling, Schurrle.

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