Holstein Kiel and Schalke 04 will both be looking to bounce back from heavy opening-day defeats when they go head-to-head at Holstein-Stadion on Sunday.
Schalke suffered a 3-1 home loss to Hamburger SV in their first game of the new 2. Bundesliga campaign.
Gute Besserung, Marco Komenda!🙏Unser Innenverteidiger hat sich im gestrigen Spiel beim @fcstpauli eine Mittelfußfraktur zugezogen, die in den nächsten Tagen operativ behandelt werden muss, und wird folglich mehrere Wochen ausfallen. Werd' schnell wieder fit, Marco!_#KielAhoi pic.twitter.com/gF0Isr8NfL— Holstein Kiel (@Holstein_Kiel) July 26, 2021
Gute Besserung, Marco Komenda!🙏Unser Innenverteidiger hat sich im gestrigen Spiel beim @fcstpauli eine Mittelfußfraktur zugezogen, die in den nächsten Tagen operativ behandelt werden muss, und wird folglich mehrere Wochen ausfallen. Werd' schnell wieder fit, Marco!_#KielAhoi pic.twitter.com/gF0Isr8NfL
Meanwhile, Holstein Kiel were beaten 3-0 by St. Pauli, meaning they head into Matchday 2 joint-bottom of the table.
Despite edging the possession stats, Holstein conceded three goals without reply last Sunday – kicking off the 2021/22 season in the worst way imaginable.
They even managed to chalk up 12 shots against St. Pauli, yet they only registered two attempts on target.
Following a poor end to the previous campaign, Holstein head into Matchday 2 on the back of three straight league defeats.
It is worth pointing out, however, that Holstein have only lost one of their previous eight 2. Bundesliga matches on home soil.
With each of Holstein’s last four league games producing over 2.5 goals, Sunday’s clash is likely to be a high-scoring encounter.
On the flip side, Simon Terodde gave Schalke the lead inside seven minutes last time out. But it all went downhill after that.
Despite recording 15 shots – nine of which were on target – Schalke finished the game with just 26% possession and ended up losing 3-1.
Remarkably, Hamburger (609) racked up almost three times as many passes as Schalke (210) – underlining the visitors dominance.
Having suffered relegation from the Bundesliga last term, Schalke will surely be eager to bounce back at the first time of asking.
But if their opening game is anything to go by, they could struggle to return to the top-flight come the end of the season.
Head-to-head: The only previous meetings between Holstein Kiel and Schalke 04 came all the way back in the 2003/04 campaign.
The two sides produced a 1-1 draw at Schalke’s ground, before Holstein thrashed Schalke 4-2 in the reverse fixture at Holstein-Stadion.
Team news: Holstein will be without injured trio Ahmet Arslan, Stefan Thesker and Timon Weiner on Sunday.
As for Schalke, they currently have four players sidelined through injury – Rabbi Matondo, Salif Sane, Ralf Fahrmann and Danny Latza.
With home advantage on their side, Holstein should have an edge over Schalke. That said, both teams are likely to get on the scoresheet on Sunday.
Forebet predicts that Holstein Kiel will score over 2.5 goals on their way to seeing off Schalke.