Hertha Berlin v Schalke 04
Football : Germany : Bundesliga
Olympic Stadium
Saturday, 24th April 2010 – kickoff 15:30

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Hertha Berlin

Last weekend Hertha Berlin slipped more towards the 2.Bundesliga after they drew 2-2 against Eintracht Frankfurt. They were leading twice in that match but still could not hold on to the victory.

Now Hertha Berlin must face Schalke 04 who are on hot pursuit of the Bundesliga trophy. There is not much hope in the team that will (probably) go down after this season.

Three wins combined with their rivals` slip ups at the bottom is Hertha's only option to hope for survival but that is unlikely to happen having on mind that this team struggles the whole season and they are hammered at the last place since the start of this season.

At the moment Hertha Berlin are five points behind the place that leads in the Play-Off match with the third seeded team in the 2.Bundesliga, so three wins are mandatory.

Coach Friedhelm Funkel can count on all his players except for longer time absentees Roman Hubnik (rehab after knee surgery) and Florian Kringe (broken bone).

The team will play in a standard formation with two strikers, and Raffael will take the role of the playmaker behind the strikers.

Probable Hertha Berlin line-up :
Drobny ,
Piszczek , A. Friedrich , von Bergen , Kobiashvili,
Lustenberger, Kacar , Cicero ,
Raffael,
Ramos, Gekas

Schalke 04

After the bad spell of two losses in a row against Bayern Munich and Hannover 96, Schalke 04 managed to get an important 3-1 victory last week against Borussia Monchengladbach and they are still two points behind the leaders Bayern Munich.

There is no doubt that Schalke will continue to put additional pressure on Bayern Munich until the last matchday, and good thing for the team is that they will be more rested and fresh than Bayern Munich this weekend, who had to play a Champions league match and had less time to prepare.

Even if they do not win the title, with a win in this match Schalke 04 will mathematically secure their direct place in the Champions league groups for next season as they have a seven point advantage over the third placed team at the Bundesliga table - Werder Bremen.

Coach Felix Magath does not have worries over injured or suspended players in his team prior this match except for Jermaine Jones who has been out through injury for few months. Marcelo Bordon and Howedes will take their places in the central defense and the team will once again play with three strikers in Jefferson Farfan, Kevin Kuranyi and Edu, who will replace the Chinese international Hao in the starting line up.

Probable Schalke 04 line-up :
Neuer ,
Rafinha , Höwedes , Bordon , Westermann,
Matip, Kluge, Rakitic,
Farfan , Kuranyi , Edu

The Betting Verdict

Schalke 04 won the first match against Hertha Berlin 2-0. Hertha Berlin have only one home victory this season.

Although this is a “do or die” situation for Hertha Berlin, i think that Schalke 04 will not drop points here and they will hope that Borussia Monchengladbach can hold on to at least a draw against Bayern Munich so the battle for the title will continue.

Hertha Berlin had so many chances against much weaker teams than Schalke 04 throughout the season and they simply could not win. Schalke 04 will take this match seriously and i expect them to win and send Hertha Berlin in the 2.Bundesliga.

The Statistics :

The Pick :

Hertha 0-2 Schalke 04

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take the Away win for Schalke 04