Schalke vs Borussia M’gladbach preview

March 17, 2016
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Schalke vs GladbachThe likes of Schalke and Borussia M’gladbach square off in a classic top 4 six-pointer at Veltins Arena, where the winner would make a giant step towards Champions League qualification.

This has been a very difficult season for the Miners, who recently crashed out of the Europa League following a 3-0 aggregate loss to Shakhtar Donetsk.

Meanwhile, the team have struggled to remain close to top 4 positions in the Bundesliga, although the latest run of results helped keep the qualifying hopes alive.

Back to back wins over Hamburg and Koln acted as a major confidence boost, but Schalke then went ahead and lost to third-placed Hertha, slipping to fifth in the standings.

The Miners now face a very important game against Borussia M’gladbach and they can be backed at 2.50 (3/2) to claim maximum points.

Schalke haven’t been too impressive at home of late, winning just two of last five fixtures (D1 L2), so they will need to show improvement if they want to win this game.

Full-back Junior Caicara misses out through suspension, whereas Bendikt Howedes, Matija Nastasic, Marco Hoger and Atsuto Uchida are out injured.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Fahrmann – Riether, Matip, Neustadter, Aogo – Geis, Hojbjerg – Schopf, Meyer, Belhanda – Huntelaar.

Borussia M’gladbach have made tremendous progress over the last few years and they appear to be still going strong.

Die Fohlen were eliminated from the Champions League group of death despite showing a great deal of promise, but that could prove a blessing in disguise seeing that they can now fully focus on the Bundesliga.

Borussia hope to secure another season in Europe’s elite competition, and they currently occupy the final Champions League berth, although the likes of Schalke, Mainz, Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg are breathing down their necks.

Die Fohlen have stabilized their form of late, winning three of last five fixtures and only losing to Wolfsburg, although they seem to suffer from travel sickness.

Namely, Borussia have lost five of last six away games in all competitions, only avoiding defeat against Augsburg, so they clearly face an uphill task at Veltins Arena.

The visitors have some selection problems as well, with Alvaro Dominguez, Tony Jantschke, Oscar Wendt, Nico Schulz and Martin Stranzl all sidelined.

Probable starting line-up (3-4-1-2): Sommer – Elvedi, Christensen, Nordtveit – Johnson, Dahoud, Xhaka, Hinteregger – Hazard – Stindl, Raffael.

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