Bundesliga: Red Bull Leipzig vs. Schalke 04 Betting Preview, Odds, Prediction

Red Bull Leipzig and Schalke 04 will close Saturday in German football. The game at Red Bull Arena features the semifinalists of the most recent Champions League edition, and a team that didn’t start this Bundesliga campaign well at all. It will be very hard for the Miners to dig out at least one point here, but hope always exists. On the other side, for Red Bull, nothing but a win in this contest is acceptable. 

Preview 

Red Bull (-800) posted a win and a draw in the last two Bundesliga matches. They beat Mainz in the opener with 3-1, after which they went to a tough road contest against Bayer Leverkusen, 1-1. We need to say that they didn’t show anything special against the latter team, who isn’t as strong as before after selling Kai Havertz to Chelsea.

Of course, RB has its own losses from the roster, with the most significant one being Timo Werner, who also joined the Blues. We’ll see how Alexander Sorlth and Hee-chan Hwang replace this fella. 

Like before, this team prefers to wait for counter-attacks and fast transitions, and strike from those types of situations. To be honest, they looked well in the Champions League even though Werner left, and we are eager to see whether that trend continues. 

Schalke 04 (+1000) opened the season with a 0-8 loss in Munich against Bayern. After that, Werder Bremen routinely handled them in Gelsenkirchen, 1-3, indicating that we might see the Miners fighting for their lives in this campaign. For a long time, Schalke didn’t appear this weak and pale. The game against Bremen showed that, and Werder, with all due respect, is nothing more than an average Bundesliga club. 

That match exposed all their problems in the middle and the defense, leaving a massive headache for the head coach Manuel Baum. If the doesn’t change something quickly, the 41-year old will undoubtedly lose his job even though the season is still early. 

Latest News

The Bulls are in serious trouble when it comes to their injured players. Six of them are ruled out for this event, starting with Yussuf Polsen and Marcel Sabitzer who are their top two players at the moment. Konrad Laimer, Ibrahima Konate, Hwang, and Fabrice Hartmann are all out.

On the other side, Amine Harit and Suat Serdar are out for Schalke, which is a big blow for them as well.

Head to Head Matches

Red Bull demolished Schalke on the road in the previous meeting with 0-5. The first leg of the 2019/20 campaign, played in Leipzig saw the guests taking all three points, 1-3. Overall, three of their last four games saw just one side scoring. 

Prediction

Although Red Bull doesn’t appear with its best lineup, and they miss a couple of top players, they shouldn’t have any problems in this event. Defeating Schalke with at least a two-goal margin is something Nagelsmann’s team needs to do without spending too much energy. Odds on that recommendation are at -105. For all of you who want to take some risk, go with RB scoring twice inside the first 45 minutes.