RELEGATION BATTLE: WHO WILL SURVIVE?

For a long time, Schalke seemed to be suffering a similar decline to that of 2020-21, when they proved competitive in the Bundesliga and ended the season with just 16 points – the lowest of any team in the three points for a win era. Across the first half of this season, they’d picked up only nine points – just two more than their disastrous 2020-21 campaign (seven). However, the second half of the campaign has seen a transformation.

They are currently on an eight-game unbeaten run, which began with four goalless draws – the first team in Bundesliga history to do this. Since then, two wins (both against relegation rivals Stuttgart and Bochum) and two more draws have given them a fighting chance of survival in 2022-23. Since the halfway point of the season (17 games), the only other Bundesliga side to go undefeated are rivals Borussia Dortmund.

Since the halfway point of 2022-23, Schalke have posted league-best tallies for goals conceded (four) and expected goals against (8.5), which is a remarkable turnaround from the first half of the campaign in which they conceded a league-high 41 goals from 17 games.

Matchdays 27 and 28 could well decide their fate, with games against relegation rivals Hoffenheim and Hertha BSC. They’ll need to pick up positive results in those games, as their last three league fixtures of 2022-23 see them face difficult matches against three of the current top six sides: Bayern Munich away, Eintracht Frankfurt at home and RB Leipzig away.