Schalke vs Eintracht Frankfurt Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Schalke 04 could close to within four points of Eintracht Frankfurt and the European qualifying positions with a second consecutive win at the Veltins Arena this Friday. Newly signed forward Guido Burgstaller had a debut to remember last Saturday, scoring the only goal in the 92nd minute in Schalke’s 1-0 win at home to Ingolstadt.

Meanwhile, just six months after surviving a relegation play-off, Niko Kovac’s Frankfurt look to build on their 6th place position with a show of strength at Schalke. Last weekend’s 3-0 defeat away to RB Leipzig, however, leaves them without first choice goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky (see team news) and marked their second consecutive defeat on the road.

Schalke are the bookies’ favourites ahead of this match at 10/11, and not without reason: Schalke’s strong form at home has seen them win five of their last seven at the Veltins Arena in the Bundesliga (W5 D1 L1) and head-2-head trends show that the home side is undefeated in any of the last ten meetings between Schalke and Frankfurt (W6 D4). However, we feel that this match should be set up to be a rather dull affair.

Schalke are without multiple forwards due to an ongoing injury crisis (see team news) and top goalscorer Nabil Bentaleb (4 goals in 16 appearances) may still be absent here after attending the African Cup of Nations with Algeria earlier this week. As a result, Schalke lack a true “goalscorer” and have scored no more than one goal in any of their last five Bundesliga matches. Meanwhile, Frankfurt are the joint second lowest scoring side in the top ten and they’ve failed to score in three of their last five on the road.

Given that Schalke are lacking goal-scoring form and that Eintracht Frankfurt have never had a better defensive record after 17 games (only 15 goals conceded), we expect a deadlocked match where the visitors may be content enough to sit back and aim to leave with a point. Notably, Eintracht Frankfurt have not conceded a goal in any of their last six games played on a Friday night – five of which have ended as 0-0 draws. Head-2-head statistics also trend towards lower scoring results in matches between Schalke and Frankfurt, with under 2.5 goals scored in four of the last six (66%) meetings. As such, under 2.5 goals at 4/6 and a 0-0 draw at 15/2 have to be two of the safer bets available this Friday.