Schalke vs Paderborn Prediction & Match Preview

FC Schalke 04 vs SC Paderborn 07, German Bundesliga
Date: Saturday, 8 February 2020, Kick-off at 14:30 UK / 15:30 CET
Venue: VELTINS-Arena (Gelsenkirchen).

The Royal Blues welcomes a charming underdog SC Paderborn to VELTINS-Arena aiming to get back to the winning track in Saturday’s Bundesliga clash.

Match Preview: Schalke vs Paderborn

Schalke are on a high, having won a dramatic Last 16 tie against Hertha in the DFB-Pokal on Tuesday evening with Benito Raman getting the winning goal in extra time after two of Hertha’s players saw red.

Despite stumbling their way to 0-0 draw in the last league game in Berlin, The Miners’ dreams of Champions League football are still alive and well as they as off now occupy 6th place and currently are five points away from Monchengladbach at fourth.

David Wagner’s men are undefeated at home since August, winning five and drawing four since season opening loss at VELTINS-Arena v Bayern, with their last league game in there being colossal 2-0 victory v (at the time) title challenging Borussia Monchengladbach.

Paderborn started off strong against troubled Wolfsburg, taking the lead early on before ultimately succumbing to 13th defeat of the year following Holtmann’s premature expulsion.

Those were bad news for Paderborn’s fans as the Wolves put a stop to their comeback, allowing Fortuna to overtake them and push them back to the last step of Bundesliga ladder but it’s still to early for desperation as Mainz and salvation are just three points away with lots of football left to play.

Victory at Freiburg two weeks ago meant that Steffen Baumgart’s pupils has now picked up more points on the road than they are on their native Benteler-Arena; it was their seventh point gathered from four latest outings.

Just as Wagner thought injury troubles are over for his side, his players went and picked up few more; Daniel Caligiuri, Weston McKennie, Markus Schubert, Salif Sané and Benjamin Stambouli will sit out clash with Paderborn with Jonjoe Kenny going down the wire.

Mohamed Drager and Luca Kilian are out for the visitors with Gerrit Holtmann and Jamilu Collins joining them on the stands due to suspensions.

Schalke vs Paderborn: Head-to-head (h2h)

• Overall Stats (5 games): FC Schalke 5 wins, 0 draws, SC Paderborn 0 wins.
• The Royal Blues have 1-0-0 record at home versus Paderborn.
• Schalke showed their dominance, demolishing North-Rhine side 5-1 back in September.
• The Miners are on a five-game winning streak v Paderborn.
• Visitors couldn’t keep the ball out of their net in all of the times they’ve played Schalke.
• Three of their total five meetings ended with more than 2.5 goals.

Schalke vs Paderborn: Prediction

On paper, Paderborn are way out of their depth in Gelsenkirchen and despite sympathies I have for them, I don’t think this David will beat Royal Blue Goliath. Schalke is entirely different beast in front of their own fans and Paderborn will be dealt with accordingly.

In true Schalke fashion, I expect all will be decided after the break as the Miners tend to score (or concede) a lot more in the second half. This came true in all but two of their home games and Paderborn fit that pattern really well, especially on recent travels.

Schalke vs Paderborn: Betting tips

• FC Schalke 04 to Win @ 1.53

• Half with Most Goals: Second Half @ 1.95.