Schalke 04 vs Bayer Leverkusen 15/06/20

15 June 2020

Out-of-sorts Schalke 04 welcome the Bundesliga (BL) top-four contenders Bayer Leverkusen to the Veltins Arena, desperate to find the way out a severe crisis.

Schalke’s misery has continued since the league’s restart (D1, L4), as they enter this round on a run of 12 consecutive BL matches without a win (D5, L7). The majority of Schalke’s problems come from the fact that they’ve drawn a blank in eight of those 12 fixtures, scoring precisely one goal per match in the other four. Furthermore, ‘Die Königsblauen’ have failed to find the back of the net in three of their last five top-flight home matches, scoring one apiece in the other two, with three of them featuring under 2.5 goals in total. Their dismal form seems unlikely to end here, considering Schalke have not picked up a single win from their last five top-flight home clashes against Leverkusen (D1, L4), scoring under 1.5 goals on four of those occasions.

Meanwhile, a 4-2 home defeat to Bayern Munich last time out now means that none of Leverkusen’s six previous BL matches has ended in a draw (W4, L2), with five of those results (win/loss) yielding a margin of at least two goals. But, ‘Die Werkself’ have won all three of their league away fixtures since German football returned to action to bring their unbeaten BL away streak to five (W4, D1). Curiously, 57.14% (16) of their 28 BL goals scored on the road has come before the halftime break, with 12 of their 15 BL trips featuring at least one first-half goal, and eight of them witnessing at least two. Also, five of Leverkusen’s seven league away games since the turn of the year have seen over 2.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet.