Bundesliga Preview: FSV Mainz vs. Schalke 04
Thomas Tuchel’s high flying FSV Mainz will take on http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ralf-c30492 Rangnick’s rather struggling Schalke 04 in the third round of the Bundesliga. The match will be played at the Coface Arena in Mainz where the hosts will look to maintain their
unbeaten run in the league this season.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/1-FSV-Mainz-05-c38166
Die Nullfunfer have started the season brilliantly and won the first two games of the season in the Bundesliga. The O-Fives defeated potential title contenders Bayer Leverkusen in their opening fixture and downed http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/SC-Freiburg-c40462 last
week to keep the 100% winning record.
Thomas Tuchel’s side are currently second on the Bundesliga standings table with six points from two games. The club will be looking to carry on with the exceptional form and make sure things do not go wrong like last season when
they faltered after a sensational start to the season with seven victories in a row.
Schalke 04
Die Knappen have had a mixed start to the season. They won the first round fixture in the German Cup with a staggering 11-1 score line and lost the first Bundesliga fixture to Stuttgart 3-0. Ralf Rangnick’s side continued the unpredictable
run as they defeated FC Koln 5-1 in an impressive display but lost the subsequent UEFA Europa League qualifier against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/HJK-c39532 Helsinki 2-0.
The manager will hope his team shows more consistency and pull an impressive result against a good Mainz team.
Team news
FSV Mainz
The hosts will be without the services of Hungarian striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Florian-Heller-c13852 who are out with long-term injuries. Otherwise, the home team has no major injury problems and will look to play a strong team
against Die Knappen.
Schalke 04
The visitors are without Peruvian winger Jefferson Farfan for the match which will be the only first team absence. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Raul-c30652 will start as the
second striker playing down rumours of a possible exit.
Players to watch
Sami Allagui
The Tunisian international will be the home side’s main threat in the match. He scored in the clash against Bayer Leverkusen and was brilliant throughout in the next match against Freiburg.
The striker also has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders considering last season’s star man Andre Schurrle has left this summer for Bayer Leverkusen.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Klaas-Jan-Huntelaar-c21175
The Dutch international has been in sparkling form in the few matches played this season. He scored four times in the first round match of the German Cup and scored a great hat-trick against FC Koln last week to take his goal tally
to seven in the three games played.
He will be expected to carry on with his stunning goal scoring form and lead his side to three points in the end.
Prediction
The home side are flying high with two wins in a row and could well be the favourites to win the match as well. On the other hand, the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Royal-95-c40387 Blues are coming from a Europa League qualifier defeat at the hands of HJK Helsinki and
will be low on confidence.
The hosts will be expected to carry on with their sensational run and win the match 2-1 against a struggling Schalke, who have been under par in the big games for a while now.
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