Schalke host local rivals Borussia Dortmund at the Veltins Arena for the latest edition of the Ruhr derby this Saturday.
These two teams have sharply different ambitions for the remainder of the season but being a local derby, drama is almost always guaranteed in this match.
Read on to get our betting tips for this derby.
Survival is the keyword for Schalke even as they prepare for this derby. It has been a tough season for them. After barely escaping the chop last season, they started this season with an 8-0 loss to champions Bayern Munich and it has been downhill since then.
They are rock bottom of the Bundesliga with just a single win from their 21 outings all season. If we extrapolate to the end of last season, that would make it one win from 37 games as they failed to win any of their last 16 games as they flirted with relegation.
As fate would have it, relegation appears to be the new normal they have had to deal with this season. They are by far the worst team in the league this season and their position on the log in testament to that. They are winless in their last 7 games and have not scored in the last three games. They actually have scored the least and conceded the most goals in the league this season. It will take a turnaround of gargantuan proportions to escape the hangman’s noose at the end of the season.
Borussia Dortmund have had their fair share of struggles this season. They have won just one game in their last 6 Bundesliga outings, a run that has seen them getting dislodged from the top four. They are currently sixth on the log with 33 points, which fortunately for them is just six points off the top four with a lot of the season still left to play.
They will be in high spirits coming into this derby after their impressive 3-2 away win at Sevilla in the Champions League on Wednesday, as a first-half Erling Haaland virtuoso performance set them up for a great night in Spain despite a late rally from the host which was too little too late.
Stand-in coach Edin Terzic will look to build on that performance as they try to get back into the top four picture. He still has to figure out his porous defence that has not kept a clean sheet in any of their last nine matches.
Borussia Dortmund may have 99 problems but scoring goals is not one of them. They have found the back of the net in each of their last 29 straight games. They put three past a Sevilla side that had kept 7 straight sheets coming into the Wednesday game! Schalke have been utterly poor this season and even though Dortmund have had recent struggles in the league this season, they shouldn’t have any issues against the worst defence in the league. We are backing them to Score in Both Halves @ 1.84.
Erling Haaland has been the one constant performer all through their recent win drought in the league. He scored the equalizer in their last league match which they drew 2-2 at home to Hoffenheim and was involved in all three goals in Sevilla, bagging a brace and providing an assist for Dahoud’s opener and bagging a quickfire brace for himself to virtually settle the game in the first half. We fancy him to get on the scoresheet again @ 1.45 with Bet9ja betting app as our final call for this derby.
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