Schalke 04 vs Bayern Munich Predictions, Betting Tips, & Match Preview

Schalke, under new coach Markus Weinzierl and with a handful of promising new signings, were unable to take anything away from their visit to Frankfurt in their opening fixture two weeks back. Frankfurt’s Alex Meier scored the only goal of the game after the hosts capitalised on an error from Schalke’s new signing Naldo. Goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann saved a Frankfurt penalty to deny Meier his second of the match and though Schalke had plenty of opportunities of their own, with eleven shots on goal, a 1-0 defeat was how it stood after 90 minutes. Schalke would usually be optimistic in a quick bounce back to this disappointing start, but their first home match of the 2016/2017 Bundesliga campaign is a difficult one – hosting Bayern Munich.

Bayern Munich’s competitive season under new manager Carlo Ancelotti has been promising so far. Bayern Munich kicked their competitive season off with a 2-0 win in the Super Cup against old rivals Borussia Dortmund, taking away their first piece of silverware in the process. Next up were Carl Zeiss Jena, a German fourth tier side, in the DFB Pokal (German League Cup) first round. Ancelotti rested a few players, such as newly signed centre back Mats Hummels, but nonetheless Bayern eased a 5-0 win. Werder Bremen were the unlucky side to draw Bayern Munich in the opening match of the new Bundesliga season. Again, Bayern were dominate and played out an even more impressive 6-0 win with striker Robert Lewandowski adding three to his tally with a hat- trick.

Ancelotti does have a few injury concerns heading into this match, but this shouldn’t be too much of a problem, considering Bayern’s squad depth and performance in the opener. Munich will likely stick to the same 4-3-3 formation fielded against Werder Bremen, with Lewandowski centered between Thomas Muller and Frank Ribery on the wings. This formidable lineup makes the reigning champions huge favourites for this match, which is unsurprising given Bayern have won ten and drawn two of the last thirteen meetings between Munich and Schalke. We don’t find much value in an outright Bayern win at 2/7 however, unless adding them to an accumulator. Instead, we feel the value here is in Schalke finding themselves a consolation goal. Both teams have scored in four of the last six meetings between the two sides and Schalke haven’t failed to score at home in thirteen consecutive home matches. Munich have shown that they’re not “invincible” away from home in recent records. Though they are undefeated on the road in the Bundesliga in 2016, winning seven of their nine away matches (W7 D2), both teams have scored in four of these wins (57% of the time) – notably against much weaker sides than Schalke (Ingolstadt, Stuttgart, Augsburg and Hamburg).

Hence, Bayern Munich to win and both teams to score at 13/8 and Bayern Munich to win 3-1 at 9/1 with bet365 are our choice bets for this match.