Borussia Monchengladbach will be aiming to record successive victories when they host Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga's Saturday evening match.
Schalke ended their losing streak by drawing against FC Koln last time out, but even a victory would not move them off the foot of the table this weekend.
Match preview
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Gladbach had returned from the World Cup with two consecutive defeats, so their 4-1 win away to Hoffenheim last weekend was a crucial one for Daniel Farke and his players in order to get their season back up and running.
Jonas Hofmann's surprisingly early return from injury clearly boosted Die Fohlen, with the Germany international bagging a brace inside 37 minutes to provide his side with a comfortable two-goal cushion at half-time.
Ihlas Bebou set up a grandstand finish by pulling one back for the hosts with 10 minutes of normal time remaining, but Lars Stindl and Hannes Wolf both struck late on to help Gladbach move above Bayer Leverkusen into eighth spot in the table.
With his side already knocked out of the DFB-Pokal and not involved in European competition this season, Farke will certainly not have given up hope of pushing for a top-six finish in his first season at the club, but they simply cannot afford to drop points against struggling sides like Schalke if they are to stand a chance of achieving those aims.
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Indeed, despite dominating Koln at Veltins-Arena, Schalke could not find an invaluable win, even if they did move a point closer to safety after seeing each of the five teams directly above them in the table fall to defeat across the weekend.
Thomas Reis would have been content with his side's performance across the course of the 90 minutes, with the hosts dominating the shot count 17-6. Ralf Fahrmann did not even have a single shot to save, which was a huge step forward for his team given that the experienced goalkeeper had shipped nine goals across defeats to Eintracht Frankfurt and RB Leipzig.
Reis, who comfortably kept VfL Bochum up in their first season in Germany's top flight for more than a decade before losing his job in September last year, will be under no illusions regarding the scale of the task in front of him, but his former side sit only six points above his new one in the relegation playoff spot.
As such, should Schalke be able to build on their most recent performance and find a couple of wins from somewhere, their outlook could drastically change in a short period of the time as they aim to avoid an instant return to the second tier.
Team News
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Hofmann's timely return to fitness means that Farke now has a fully available squad at his disposal, with the former Norwich City boss unlikely to make any changes to the side that dispatched Hoffenheim last week.
That means Alassane Plea will have to settle for a spot on the substitutes' bench once again, with Christoph Kramer and Stindl joining Hofmann and Marcus Thuram in the hosts' attacking unit.
Schalke, on the other hand, still have a host of injury issues, with Sebastian Polter, Niklas Tauer, Justin Heekeen, Sepp van den Berg and Thomas Ouwejan all ruled out of the trip to Monchengladbach this weekend.
Reis has bolstered the squad with Jere Uronen, Michael Frey, Tim Skarke, Mortiz Jenz and Eder Alvarez Balanta all joining during the January transfer window, with Frey likely to be hopeful of making his full debut for the club given Simon Terodde's continued goalscoring woes at this level.
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Omlin; Scally, Itakura, Elvedi, Bensebaini; Weigl, Kone; Hofmann, Kramer, Stindl; Thuram
Schalke 04 possible starting lineup:
Fahrmann; Brunner, Yoshida, Jenz, Uronen; Latza, Krauss; Kozuki, Bulter, Skarke; Frey
We say: Borussia Monchengladbach 2-0 Schalke 04
Schalke's improved performance and result against Koln should give them confidence of avoiding defeat against Farke's side, especially having been backed in the market this month.
However, Gladbach were ruthless against Hoffenheim and clearly have the better side on paper, which should see them earn a relatively comfortable victory in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Brett Curtis
