Schalke 04 vs Werder Bremen 27/09/20

27 September 2020

Schalke 04 will be looking to bounce back after an 8-0 thumping to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga curtain-raiser when Werder Bremen arrive at the Veltins Arena this weekend.

2020 has been a disastrous year for Schalke so far, as they’ve picked up just a single win from 18 Bundesliga fixtures since the calendar flipped (W1, D6, L11). What’s more, they have drawn a blank in ten of those 18 games, scoring precisely once per match in six of the remaining seven. In turn, at home, ‘Die Königsblauen’ have failed to get on the scoresheet in four of their last eight competitive outings, netting only once per clash in the other four. Finding a way out of this serious goal-scoring crisis will be quite daunting for Schalke here, given David Wagner’s men have failed to bypass Werder’s in all three of their previous competitive H2Hs held at this venue.

On the other hand, Werder carried their disappointing form from 2019/20 into 2020/21, suffering a dismal 4-1 home loss to Hertha BSC on Matchday 1. The visitors barely kept a top-flight status after overcoming Heidenheim on the away goal rule in their two-legged play-out tie (0-0 H, 2-2 A). Curiously, though, ‘Die Werderaner’ registered a clear majority (70.97%) of their Bundesliga points away from home back in 2019/20 (22/31). However, Florian Kohfeldt’s side established a habit of falling behind without recovering, losing five of six Bundesliga away games in which they conceded the opening goal last season (D1, L5).