Schalke 04-Vfb Stuttgart
Veltins Arena
Friday, 12th March 2010 – kickoff 20:30

Schalke 04

Schalke 04 have showed a fantastic performance last week when they trashed Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1 away and now they are very close to the top, just two points behind the leaders Bayern Munich. They have won fifteen matches so far, drawn six times and lost just four which puts them in the top three teams that fight for the Bundesliga title.

This will be a very difficult match for them as they will host the second best team in the second part of the season (according to the statistics and the recent form). The next few rounds might be decisive for Schalke 04 as they will face the top sides of Hamburg, Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen so this match is taken very seriously by the team. Only nine rounds to go and Schalke 04 must continue with their good form in order to stay in contention for the title.

Schalke 04 are the team with the best defense in the league as they have conceded only 19 times so far but even of greater significance is their home form as they have won the last seven games at their Arena with the last loss coming way back in the last September against Vfl Wolfsburg.

During the midweek training sessions Marcelo Bordon (thigh) and Jefferson Farfan (hip) have received minor injuries, but are expected to be in the starting line up. There is a small question mark on Bordon as he is still not fully match fit so he might get his chance from the bench, but Farfan will be in the attack right behind Kevin Kuranyi and Vicente Sanchez.

Vfb Stuttgart

Vfb Stuttgart have turned their form from poor to positive in the most important part of the season, and now they really look like a decent team that fights for European spots. After being placed between the bottom four teams in the first part of the season, after the winter break they play great football, not only in the Bundesliga but in the Champions League as well, where they showed a very good performance against Barcelona and still have chances to progress further.

Last week they played an entertaining match against Werder Bremen where they drew 2-2 and now will face maybe tougher opponent with much better defense than Werder Bremen.

In the last ten matches, Vfb Stuttgart have lost only once against Hamburger SV and they will look to close the gap with the teams that hold the spots for European competitions for next season.

Coach Christian Gross still can not count on Sven Ulreich and Arthur Boka who are both still injured, and also another blow will be the absence of the team captain Matthieu Delpierre who had picked up his fifth yellow card last week and will have to serve his one match suspension. Georg Niedermeier will take his place as a central defender.

In the attack Cacau and Pavel Pogrebnyak will take their places once again.

The Betting Verdict

Stuttgart will be travelling to Barcelona on Wednesday for the second leg of their clash, and that might be a small distraction for the team, as they will surely look to cause a historic upset there.

Both teams have great scorers that are in great form-Kuranyi and Cacau, and Kuranyi leads the top scorers in the Bundesliga with 13 goals scored so far this season.

Although both teams play nice and offensive football and can easily transform from defense to attack, i think that they will take more cautious approach here and will not rush to score. Schalke 04 have an outstanding unbeaten run of seven matches at home and they will look to extend their streak, but Stuttgart will try to hold on as long as possible and they will probably be satisfied with a draw.

Having on mind the importance of the upcoming Champions league match and the risk of injuries, Stuttgart will probably try to upset Schalke 04 with fast counter attacks, but with Schalke`s defensive stability i do not see that happening and probably Schalke 04 will have the edge in this match.

The Statistics :

The Pick :

Schalke 04-Vfb Stuttgart 2-1

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Home win for Schalke 04