Schalke vs Fortuna Dusseldorf Predictions

Schalke appeared to be a good position ahead of their home game against Gladbach at the weekend; they were unbeaten in three and had been playing some decent attacking football. However, things turned sour on Saturday, as a red car ultimately cost them all three points. This match against a lesser Dusseldorf side presents Domenico Tedesco’s men with the opportunity to bounce back.

Schalke were poor at the weekend, but they can be forgiven considering that was their first bad performance in some time. It wasn’t the first time that they’d lost at home, nor was it the first time that they’ve lost at home in the last few months, but from a performance point of view, things have been good.

Prior to Saturday’s defeat, Schalke beat Wolfsburg at VELTINS-Arena, scoring two goals and clocking an impressive 2.34 expected goals for in the process. Moreover, Tedesco’s men have outperformed their opponents in terms of expected goals in five out of their last seven at home, which tells us that they’re generally good at making more happen than their opponents, while recent expected-goals for figures of 2.34, 2.08, 1.6, 2.38 and 2.49 suggest that they have very few problems carving out scoring opportunities, while the fact that they’ve notched 12 goals during that time shows that they’ve not had too many problems getting the ball in the net.

While Schalke have looked useful going forward on their own patch, Dusseldorf have looked suspect from a defensive point of view on their travels. As things stand in Germany’s top flight, Dusseldorf have conceded the fourth-most away goals, which isn’t surprising considering that they’re shipping a woeful 2.2 goals per travelling match.

The visitors have also performed poorly in terms of expected goals against on the road, as they’re currently shipping an average of 1.79. In addition, when they hosted Schalke earlier in the season, they conceded twice and gave away 1.55 expected goals, which tells us that they didn’t exactly provide stern resistance. Furthermore, the visitors have struggled to get going in the final third on the road; they’re averaging just a goal a game, are averaging just 1.02 expected goals for, while they failed to get seriously involved offensively against Wednesday’s opponents earlier in the season.

Saturday’s game was a disappointment as far as Schalke were concerned, but this a good opportunity for them to resume winning ways. Given the respective home and away performances of the two teams involved, coupled with the fact that Schalke made light work of both winning and scoring twice, when the pair met earlier in the campaign, it’s easy to feel that the price available on ‘Schalke to Win & Over 1.5 Goals’ is worth taking.