In this article, we have prepared for you an in-depth analysis of one of the last two matchups in week 3 of German Bundesliga that will take place on Sunday in Gelsenkirchen between Schalke 04 and VfB Stuttgart.
Home win and a road loss are the accomplishments in the first two rounds of 2017 German Bundesliga season for foes that will lock horns at Veltins Arena on Sunday in one of two closing matchups of week 3. Both of these squads will compete only in the national championship this year and in German Cup when the time comes because of the fact that they haven’t managed to secure the European team competitions berth although team’s fans and supporters recall different times.
Setting successes and failures aside, it’s time to check out the attributes and tendencies of these two foes in order to determine the possible outcome of this matchup thus selecting a couple of well-pointed picks so let’s take a closer look.
Schalke 04 vs. VfB Stuttgart
Three-Way: 1: Schalke 04 -119; X: +300 Draw; VfB Stuttgart +409
Spread -0.5: Schalke 04 -130; VfB Stuttgart +125
Total +2.5: Over -116; Under +112
SCHALKE 04
The team from Gelsenkirchen already avoided the worst start of the season in team’s history that occurred last year with an opening win over RB Leipzig team. Still, they couldn’t keep the momentum from the week 1 and they recorded a defeat while visiting the newcomer in the league Hannover 96, 0:1. Now Schalke 04 will face another newly promoted squad but in front of their own crowd at the Veltins Arena. The international break is behind them and most of the players (except those who were on the international duty) should be well rested and prepared to show us some quality performances that we expect from guys who play in top level soccer competitions.
In the round 2 matchups against Hannover 96 R. Fahrmann started at the goalkeeper position and as a team captain. T. Kehrer, Naldo and M. Nastasic started at the centre-back positions while L. Goretzka and N. Bentaleb started in front of them with mostly defensive midfield assignments. D. Caliguri and B. Ozcipka operated along the wings while A. Harit and Y. Konoplyanka was appointed as the second line of attack, just behind F. Di Santo who was set as a lone striker at the top. Domenico Tedesco’s tactics that worked well against RB Leipzig in week 1 proved as inefficient on the road and team’s 51% of ball possession initiative looked very brittle.
Schalke 04 also recorded six shots towards goal fewer than the hosts. Di Santo and Goretzka also got booked while Goretzka presented the biggest threat to the opponents’ goalie with two shots towards the goal along with Fabian Resse who also recorded two. Amine Harit and Naldo dominated the passing segment with 91.5% and 87.1% of completed passes.
Franco Di Santo (arm) and Luke Hemmerich (foot) are listed as day to day while Donis Avdijaj’s (ankle) status is unknown. Guido Burgstaller (foot) is back in training and should be available to coach Tedesco on Sunday.
VFB STUTTGART
The VfB Stuttgart team finished ranked on the top of the second tier of German soccer competition, Zweita last season thus earning the automatic promotion to the top tier competition. They recorded 69 points in 34 games with a 21-6-7 record and their main goal this season will be the survival and re-establishing the teams’ top tier German Bundesliga tradition. The opener against Hertha in Berlin didn’t go as planned and the team suffered a 2:0 defeat but the home field opener went in an extraordinary fashion as they managed to emerge victorious against FSV Mainz 05 and provide their fans with a much-needed relief that earning three points provides.
Against Mainz coach, Wolf decided to go in with a 5-4-1 formation that looks very odd and defensive at first glance but as game time passed on Stuttgart’s players played more and more offensively transforming the formation to a 3-4-2-1 look and thus regaining the initiative on the field. They held the ball in their possession for 52% of the time and had 21 shot towards opponents’ goal oppose to FSV Mainz’s 19. R. Zieler started the match between the bars while the five-man defensive line has consisted of B. Pavard, T. Baumgartl, H. Badstuber, M. Kaminski and D. Aogo. J. Brekalo, C. Gentner, O. Mangala and C. Akolo operated in front of them while the only striker in starting lineup was S. Terrode. Christian Gentner who was also the team’s captain and Orel Mangala got booked during the game. T. Asano, M. Langerak and M. Zimmermann received some playing time after coming in as substitutes for Brekalo, Akolo and Aogo and only goal scorer in the game was defender Holger Badstuber who signed for the team during the summer transfer window from Bayern Munich.
Attacker Simon Terrode was the most dangerous player for the home team with four shots towards opponents’ goal recorded along with Orel Mangala who had two. Terrode also topped the team in passing accuracy with 88,9% passes completed while Denis Aogo had 91.7% of passes completed in 36 attempts.
Emiliano Insua (knee) along with Carlos Mane (knee) will be unavailable for a longer period of time as both are not expected to be back until at least early November. Holger Badstuber’s (groin) status is unknown after he suffered an injury on training session last week while Dennis Aogo (muscle) and Andreas Beck (knee) should be back in few days. Matthias Zimmermann’s (cruciate ligament) and Ron-Robert Zeller’s (wrist) status is unknown while Danile Ginczek (knee) and Anto Grgic (ankle) are listed as day to day.
Schalke 04 vs. VfB Stuttgart – Match Prediction
The last two matchups between these two foes occurred in 2015/16 season when Stuttgart team got relegated into Zweita. In the first clash at Mercedes-Benz-Arena team from Gelsenkirchen emerged victorious recording a minimal 1:0 win with a goal scored by L. Sane while teams shared points in the second match at Veltins-Arena bay ending the game with a 1:1 draw (Y. Belhanda and M. Harnik were scorers).
This year there might not be much difference when it comes to total goals scored because I just can’t see these teams in some goal scoring fiesta type of a game. Another interesting fact is that all four matchups that these two teams played in first two weeks combined had under 2.5 total goals scored and in neither of those matches both teams scored.
This pretty much defines the way we should go with our betting picks here as the under 2.5 goals in total looks like a no-brainer. For those of you who are ready to take chances, I would go with a 0:0 result at the halftime because overall trend after the international breaks purports the fact that teams enter the games more careful and regrouped. This is because coaches have enough time to remedy mistakes that occurred prior to the breaks thus improving the overall performances of the squads. On the other side, a one-goal difference Schalke 04 win also looks like a good option.
My pick: Under 2.5 goals (+112)
Additional Pick: 0:0 at halftime (+225)
