On Sunday afternoon, Schalke 04 will look to bring to an end a club record five-match losing start to the season in the Bundesliga, when they host Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Veltins-Arena.
Disastrous start for the Royal Blues
It has been nothing short of a disaster so far for Markus Weinzierl's side after defeats to Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern Munich, Hertha BSC, 1. FC Köln and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga and they must bring that run to an end.
For a team that finished fifth last season, only three points off a UEFA Champions League place, it just isn't good enough even though there has been some change at the club.
The Royal Blues have quite alarmingly conceded at least twice in all but one of their games so far as well as only scoring two goals themselves which shows exactly why things aren't great at the minute.
Despite the turmoil of losing all their matches in the Bundesliga, the Royals Blues won their second consecutive match in the UEFA Europa League in midweek as they defeated Red Bull Salzburg 3-1 at home. Therefore they will be hoping that they can take this good feeling into this weekend's match.
Solid start for the visitors
On the other hand, André Schubert's side have made a much better start to the season. After five games they have won three, drawn one and lost once against SC Freiburg.
The Foals are a team that consistently challenge for a top four place every season and it looks like they will be doing the same this season once again.
The problem though is that the visitors have only won one of their last 13 Bundesliga matches on the road. It, therefore, sets the game up to be a thriller with both sides wanting to go into the international break on a high.
Another important thing to remember is that the visitors played in midweek in the Champions League as they were defeated 2-1 at home by FC Barcelona. Even though it is not a bad thing to lose to Barcelona, it was the matter of the defeat that will hurt the most.
Royal Blues won last meeting at the Veltins-Arena
In the corresponding fixture between these sides last season, the Royals Blues won the game 2-1. A Martin Hinteregger own goal gave the hosts the lead before Andreas Christensen levelled for the foals. The winner was then scored by Leon Goretzka seven minutes before the end.
Team news
In terms of players missing for the game, the hosts will be without Coke once again due to a knee ligament injury. Atsuto Uchida and Donis Avdijai will also miss the game as they have only recently returned to light training after injury.
It doesn't get much better for the visitors as they will be without some key players. Brazilian forward Raffael will miss the game with a hamstring injury which means that Andre Hahn could come into the side to replace him.
Tobias Strobl is also missing for the game with a hamstring injury while Josip Drmić will miss the game due to a knee injury. These injuries mean that Mahmoud Dahoud, Jannik Vestergaard and Patrick Herrmann are all in contention to start the game.
Predicted line-ups
Schalke 04: (4-2-3-1) Fährmann; Höwedes, Naldo, Nastasic, Baba; Geis, Bentaleb; Goretzka, Meyer, Choupo-Moting; Huntelaar.
Borussia Mönchengladbach: (3-2-4-1) Sommer; Elvedi, Christensen, Korb; Kramer, Dahoud; Johnson, Wendt, Stindl, Hazard; Hahn.