Schalke vs Krasnodar predictions, betting tips & match preview

Schalke had made an awful start to this season, but things are now turning around for the Bundesliga side. They had been bottom of the table in Germany at one point, but they’ve fought back and things are looking up for them. They’ve now gone four games unbeaten in the league, while they’ve made an impressive start in Europe too.

These two sides met in Russia last month in a key battle at the top of the group. Schalke won 1-0 that night to maintain their 100% record in this group, putting them on course to qualify. That result was another huge blow to the Russians, who are on a really poor run domestically. Can they make up for that when they visit the Veltins Arena?

Krasnodar have won just three of their last 10 in the Russian Premier League. They’ve now surrendered control of this group to the German side, with Schalke a win away from making the next round. Things aren’t going too well in general for the Russian side, and it’s hard to see them turning around their fortunes here.

They head to Germany with Schalke in fantastic defensive form. They picked up a 0-0 draw with rivals Borussia Dortmund at the weekend. That’s three clean sheets in four for Die Knappen in the Bundesliga. They’ve won 50% of their home games to nil now, which shows how far they’ve come since they propped up the rest of the table.

Krasnodar are awful away from home. They’ve got no wins on the road this term, while they’ve failed to even score in 67% of matches on their travels in the Russian Premier. They did scrape a 1-0 win in Salzburg in this group, but that’s all they’ve managed. They average just 0.33 goals per game away in the league, claiming just 25% of their points away from their own fans.

Schalke come into this game on the back of some comfortable home wins. They hammered Champions League side Borussia Monchengladbach 4-0 here, and then they saw off Mainz 3-0. Can they record another big win in front of their own fans?

Given their Europa League record, you’d expect them to take the points here. Krasnodar’s attack is clearly blunt away from home, so we can see them struggling to score. Seeing as Schalke have kept clean sheets in five of their last seven in this competition, we’re backing them to win to nil at 7/4 with bet365.