Schalke-Nuremberg preview

Slumping to second-bottom place in the Bundesliga could be the fate that awaits Nuremberg this weekend, as the Bavarian outfit travel to high-flying Schalke. Dieter Hecking’s side, sat in 15th place, are on a dire run of form at the moment, and if they lose in a round of fixtures where both Hamburg and Freiburg are victorious, Nuremberg will join state neighbours Augsburg at the bottom. Schalke, on the other hand, could end matchday 13 in second spot, as they currently sit one point behind runners-up elect Borussia Dortmund. On paper, Nuremberg – whose fans have a very good relationship with Schalke’s – shouldn’t present too much of a problem for the 2010/11 Champions League semi-finalists: Hecking’s side have scored a league-worst four goals on the road. In comparison, Schalke – who are also topping their group in the Europa League – are the third sharpest side in front of goal so far this season, and come into this game having lost just one of their last ten matches (a surprise home reverse to Kaiserslautern on October 15).

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Mainz-Schalke preview

Round three of the new Bundesliga season pits together two of the sides who succeeded last year in qualifying for the 2011/12 Europa League. However, whereas Schalke began their continental campaign on Thursday, albeit by losing 2-0 away to HJK Helsinki in a first leg result described as a “disaster” by sporting director Horst Heldt, Mainz were eliminated at the first hurdle, suffering a penalty shootout exit after failing to break down Romanian minnows Gaz Metan two weeks ago.

Nevertheless, Thomas Tuchel’s side have made the better start to the new Bundesliga campaign, taking six points from a possible six, and making fans dream of emulating their seven-wins-from-seven-games start to 2010/11. Following up their 2-0 and 2-1 victories over Bayer Leverkusen and Freiburg respectively with three points against Schalke will put them just under 50 percent of the way to achieving that goal, and the away side can expect a frenzied atmosphere at Mainz’s new Coface Arena as fans dream of eclipsing last season’s fifth-place finish.