Bundesliga Preview: VfB Stuttgart vs. Schalke 04
VfB Stuttgart will take on Schalke 04 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena to kick start their Bundesliga campaign this season. The German heavy weights will fight in what is being touted as the clash of the weekend in Bundesliga. Both teams
are coming from a poor last season and will be hoping to make a good comeback in the upcoming campaign to satisfy the supporters.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/VfB-Stuttgart-c40879
Die Roten had a dismal season last term which saw them end up 12th on the standings table accumulating a mere 42 points from 34 games, six places below they finished in the previous season. The club saw two managerial
changes in the last term with Christian Gross and Jens Keller both being sacked due to a series of poor results. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bruno-c8098 Labbadia guided the side to 12th at the end from being 16th in December.
Stuttgart also saw the departures of some of their star players in this summer’s transfer window including midfielder Christian Trasch to Wolfsburg and have acquired Maza and William Kvist from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/PSV-c40281 Eindhoven and FC Copenhagen respectively.
Schalke 04
Like their opposition. Die Knappen also had a disappointing campaign in the Bundesliga. The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Royal-95-c40387 Blues could not capitalize on the second place finish in the previous season and ended up 14th in the Bundesliga, marginally
avoiding relegation in the end. Felix Magath was deprived of his duties in March this year when the club was lying in 10th place and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ralf-c30492 Rangnick was handed over the duties.
However, Schalke had a sensational run in the UEFA Champions League as they reached the semi-final for the first time and shocked defending champions http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan in the quarter-final stages. They also won the DFB-Pokal by defeated
second division minnows MSV Duisburg in the final.
Team News
VfB Stuttgart
The Reds have no major injury worries and will put in a strong squad for the fixture. William Kvist will straight away take Christian Trasch’s position in the centre of the park to partner http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cacau-c8235
will lead the attack with Tamas Hajnal playing as the second striker.
Schalke 04
Ralf Fahrmann is expected to keep his place as the club number one after his DFL Supercup heroics. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Klaas-Jan-Huntelaar-c21175 will start
as the loan striker with support from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Raul-c30652, who will play the attacking midfielder role.
Players to watch
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/William-Kvist-c36879
The former FC Copenhagen player will be eager to prove himself in his maiden season in the Bundesliga. The midfielder will look to fill in Christian Trasch’s boots straight away and put in a brilliant performance.
Ralf Fahrmann
The young goalkeeper has the huge responsibility of replacing http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Manuel-Neuer-c23424 at Schalke and so far he has been fantastic. He guided his side to a German Supercup win after putting in a sensational performance against Borussia Dortmund.
Prediction
The home side will be the favourites to win this clash as they have a brilliant record against Die Knappen. Both sides have been poor in the last season and a win would be very important for either of them. Stuttgart, however,
have played better at the Mercedes-Benz Arena whereas Schalke’s away form has been drastic in recent times. Die Roten will win the fixture
2-1.
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