Schalke 04 take on Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga on Sunday, which represents the side currently occupying bottom spot in the table taking on the reigning champions and league leaders.
Bayern won the reverse fixture 8-0 in September, so at the very least the hosts will be looking to keep the scoreline much more respectable this time around.
Match preview
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After thrashing Hoffenheim 4-0 to record their first victory in almost an entire calendar year, Schalke fans dared to dream that the great escape from relegation may be on the cards.
However, subsequent defeats to Eintracht Frankfurt and particularly fellow strugglers FC Koln have surely put paid to those already unrealistic expectations.
Indeed, the 2-1 defeat to Markus Gisdol's side on Wednesday was particularly gruelling for Schalke, not only because it came via Jan Thielmann's last minute strike, but also because it leaves Christian Gross's side eight points behind Koln and a massive 10 points adrift of safety.
That gap is only likely to extend after facing Bayern, although the goalscoring exploits of Matthew Hoppe, who now has five goals in his last three matches, does give them a small glimmer of hope of gaining a positive result.
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Bayern, meanwhile, appear to have recovered from the shock of suffering successive defeats at the hands of Borussia Monchengladbach and Holstein Kiel last week.
However, after an unconvincing 2-1 defeat over Freiburg, Hansi Flick's side were once again uninspiring in their 1-0 win at Augsburg on Wednesday, with Alfred Finnbogason striking the post after the hosts had been provided with a glorious chance to equalise by being awarded a 75th-minute penalty.
The Bavarians had taken the lead in the early exchanges from the penalty spot themselves, with Robert Lewandowski scoring his 22nd league goal of the season. The Pole subsequently hit the post himself in a dominant first half, but Bayern were made to nervously hold onto their lead after the break.
Despite Bayern's victory ultimately proving fortunate, Flick will be pleased that his side kept their first domestic clean sheet since defeating Frankfurt 5-0 in October. The 55-year-old will desperately be hoping that his defence can take confidence from it and build on it, with a kind run of fixtures against bottom-half teams providing a decent chance of doing exactly that.
Schalke 04 Bundesliga form: LLLWLL
Schalke 04 form (all competitions): LWLWLL
Bayern Munich Bundesliga form: WWWLWW
Bayern Munich form (all competitions): WWLLWW
Team News
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Schalke continue to be blighted with injury issues, with Steven Skrzybski, Alessandro Schopf, Kilian Ludewig, Salif Sane and Goncalo Pacienca all ruled out for the visit of the league leaders with injury.
Nassim Boujellab returned from injury from the substitutes' bench in the defeat to Koln, and may be considered for a start.
Bayern, meanwhile, have no senior first-team players unavailable, with only Tanguy Nianzou ruled out through injury.
Thankfully for Flick, Serge Gnabry's injury scare against Freiburg proved to be much ado about nothing, with the winger lasting 67 minutes against Augsburg.
Schalke 04 possible starting lineup:
Fahrmann; Becker, Kabak, Nastasic, Kolasinac; Stambouli, Serdar; Raman, Uth, Harit; Hoppe
Bayern Munich possible starting lineup:
Neuer; Pavard, Boateng, Alaba, Davies; Kimmich, Goretzka; Gnabry, Muller, Coman; Lewandowski
We say: Schalke 04 1-4 Bayern Munich
With Amine Harit, Mark Uth and Hoppe reinvigorating Schalke offensively of late, we can see the hosts scoring.
However, Gross's side have by far the worst defensive record in the Bundesliga, so the 66-year-old may be content enough if his side can concede (at most) half of the amount of goals they shipped to Bayern in the 8-0 defeat in September when Manuel Baum was manager.
Top betting tip
Brett Curtis
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Bayern Munich win with a probability of 83%. A draw had a probability of 10.9% and a win for Schalke 04 had a probability of 6.13%.
The most likely scoreline for a Bayern Munich win was 0-3 with a probability of 10.15%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (9.72%) and 1-3 (8.02%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (4.89%), while for a Schalke 04 win it was 2-1 (1.93%). The actual scoreline of 0-4 was predicted with a 8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Bayern Munich would win this match.
