Schalke 04 vs Borussia Monchengladbach 18/01/20

18 January 2020

Bundesliga (BL) returns to action this week, as Schalke 04 welcome second-placed Borussia Monchengladbach to the Veltins Arena.

After being held to back-to-back BL draws, to Wolfsburg and Freiburg, the hosts will be looking to regain some momentum when they take on a side they’ve failed to beat in each of their previous six top-flight H2Hs (D3, L3). But, the Miners have now gone eight BL home games without a loss (W4, D4), scoring over 1.5 goals in five of those fixtures. Moreover, they’ve opened the scoring in seven of their last eight league home outings but have been pegged back on three of those occasions (W4, D3). Except for a 3-0 hammering of Hertha, all of Schalke’s other three BL home triumphs this season have come via a single-goal margin, which has also been the case with two of their four away wins.

As for the visitors, they’ve endured mixed fortunes in their past three BL fixtures (W1, D1, L1), with two of their last league matches both featuring under 2.5 goals. The Foals currently trail top-placed RB Leipzig by just two points, and that’s mainly thanks to their indifferent away form. Indeed, Marco Rose’s men have picked up only one win in their last five BL road trips (D1, L3), with three of those results (win/loss) coming via a narrow one-goal margin. Also, Monchengladbach have registered 37% of their total BL points away from home and based on their recent top-flight record at the Veltins Arena, that’s unlikely to improve now. They’ve pulled off just one win in their last five BL trips to Schalke, losing three of the other four, while scoring one goal or less in four of those clashes.