Schalke 04 vs Werder Bremen Predictions, Betting Tips, & Match Preview

Schalke 04 should finally feel their season is up and running after last weekend’s 0-0 draw away to “Rivierderby” rivals Borussia Dortmund marked their eighth point from four Bundesliga matches. Alongside their 2nd round DFB-Pokal and three consecutive UEFA Europa League wins, Schalke are in top form, unbeaten in seven competitive matches (W5 D2). Schalke were, of course, expected to start their Bundesliga campaign off much stronger after an impressive preseason and the signing of a handful of promising new players over the summer. However, the home fans might be starting to regain some confidence in their side and coach Markus Weinzerl after four dominant performances at the Veltins Arena – a 3-1 win against Salzburg, a 4-0 win against Borussia M’gladbach, a 3-0 win against Mainz and a 2-0 win against Krasnodar on Thursday.

Werder Bremen started their season equally poorly with five consecutive competitive defeats (4 Bundesliga and 1 DFB Pokal) – their worst ever start to a new campaign – before Alexander Nouri took over the reins as “interim coach”. Though Bremen hit a spell of decent form (W2 D1 against Wolfsburg, Darmstadt and Leverkusen) after Nouri handed starts to several players from the under-23’s, the North Germans have since returned to losing ways, partially due to their ever-extending injury list (see team news). Confidence won’t be high as Bremen head into this off the back of two consecutive 3-1 Bundesliga defeats.

Schalke are the bookies’ favourites ahead of this match at 8/15 with bet365. While we also fancy the hosts to take three points here, we feel these odds for the home win aren’t too tempting for an outright bet, however, adding them to an accumulator would be a wise decision. Schalke’s top form has seen them convincingly win their last three at home (see above), whereas, Werder Bremen are really struggling on the road. Werder Bremen have taken just 2 points from their last 8 away matches (D2 L6) and their main problem, not just this season, but also last season, is their inability to stop conceding goals. Werder Bremen are yet to keep a clean sheet this season – last season it took them until game-week 35 to register their first – and four of Bremen’s six defeats so far have been by two goals or more (66%). When it rains, it pours regarding Bremen’s defense. Notably, Schalke have also won by 2 or more goals in six of their last eight wins against Werder Bremen (75%). As such, Schalke -1.0 Asian Handicap at 1.950 with bet365 is a much better value bet to back a Schalke win here.

Given Schalke’s new found defensive prowess – keeping a clean sheet in 3 of their last 4 Bundesliga matches against strong attacking teams such as Dortmund, Borussia M’gladbach and Mainz – we also feel it’s reasonable that the hosts should have a decent chance to keep this form up against an out-of-form Bremen. Combining this with the fact that Bremen have conceded an average of 3.75 goals per match over their four on the road this season, we feel a Schalke 3-0 win at 11/1 with bet365 should also be a decent shout.