It has been an awful campaign for Schalke in the Bundesliga this season. The rot set in towards the end of 2019 and it has not got much better since. The situation seems to get worse for the Royal Blues each week as they grow closer to suffering relegation from the Bundesliga.
Former Tottenham head coach Christian Gross seems to have a mission so impossible that Ethan Hunt wouldn’t even touch it, which is to prevent Schalke from suffering the spectre of relegation to the German second tier. They are now nine points from safety.
On Saturday afternoon, Schalke visit the Mercedes-Benz Arena to play Stuttgart, who seem to be enjoying life back in the top tier. It looks set to be another fruitless journey for the struggling Royal Blues.
Stuttgart are tenth-place and closer to the European spots than the fight for survival and will head into this game believing they will pick up another three points.
The home side has not been in great form of late, winning just two of their previous seven matches in the Bundesliga. However, Schalke are the sort of outfit a team wants to face when they are down on their luck and need a boost.
Also, in Austrian forward Sasa Kalajdzic, Stuttgart have a striker in form, as the 23-year-old has scored four goals in his last three Bundesliga appearances.
The youngster will also be happy with his goal tally of ten in his debut campaign in the German top-flight. Only Congolese wonderkid Silas Wamangituka with 11 goals has scored more than the Austrian forward in the Bundesliga for Stuttgart.
Schalke can only dream of having a player in double figures in the Bundesliga this season. Their top goalscorer is American youngster Matthew Hoppe, who has scored five goals in 12 Bundesliga appearances, although three of those goals were in one game.
Forebet predicts that this game will bring another game of woe for Schalke, with Stuttgart recording a victory in a relatively low-scoring encounter.