FK Krasnodar v Schalke 04 Betting Tips

This match sees the two top dogs from Europa League Group I go head-to-head to see who is truly the head of the pack.

Krasndodar have really picked up after a minor early-season blip and are unbeaten since new manager Igor Shalimov took charge back in mid-September. Their best form has come at home where they have won all three of their matches under Shalimov, scoring eight goals in the process.

Due to the good form of the teams in and around them in the Russian Premier League, the Bulls only find themselves in sixth place. However, they should easily be challenging for the European spots come the end of the season.

After threatening to make the breakthrough in Europe for the last couple of seasons, this year looks like it might finally happen for Krasnodar. The Green-Blacks have won both of their Europa League matches and will no doubt get through to the knockout rounds of the competition. If they beat Schalke on Thursday it will put out a real statement to the competition’s other sides.

The Bulls are currently the competitions second highest goalscorers with six goals – second behind fellow Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg on nine. Most of Krasnodar’s goals come from the Russian Premier League’s top goalscorer Fedor Smolov, who has been in excellent form for the best part of 12 months.

Unfortunately for Krasnodar, Smolov is injured for this match, although they do have good depth in the striking department with the likes of Ari and Joazinho. Whether this will be enough against a very good outfit in Schalke is another issue.

Although the side from Gelsenkirchen are one of the more established sides in the Europa League this season, they are struggling in the Bundesliga and are way down the table in 16th place. However, a club with so many good young players in the squad should be able to haul themselves out of that relegation dogfight without too much of a problem.

Markus Weinzierl’s side are already showing signs of improvement and are undefeated in their last three games in all competitions. Firstly they beat Austrian side Salzburg in the Europa League before battering Borussia Monchengladbach (who are in the Champions League) 4-0 in the Bundesliga. They then followed that up with a solid 1-1 draw against Augsburg over the weekend.

The bookies actually make the home side the favourites here. Usually this would seem odd considering a Russian side are playing a club of Schalke’s stature, however, form dictates the odds.

Having said that, it is only Schalke’s Bundesliga form which has been bad. In Europe they have a 100% record in one of the Europa League’s most competitive groups, conceding just one goal in the process and they should not be underestimated.

Krasnodar may find opportunities hard to come by in a fixture against one of the competition’s better sides and I feel they will really miss their poacher Fedor Smolov who could be relied upon to put away those rare chances.

Having said that, with Schalke having so many injury doubts going into this match, I am not sure they will be able to pull off a result either.

With both of these teams pretty much through to the knockout rounds anyway, the draw suits both and I would certainly look at going with that result at 13/5.

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