Karlsruhe – Schalke 04

The opponents will play aggressively in attack, which will lead to an abundance of goals

One of the most important duels of the fifth round of the Second Bundesliga will take place in Karlsruhe. The local team rose from the German Third League at the end of the 2018/2019 season, after which it is one of the most stable clubs in the country's second division. Under Eichner's leadership, the team is playing its sixth season, progressing from fifteenth place in the season after promotion to the current second place in the current Second Bundesliga draw. Another thing is that Karlsruhe still have to prove their right to second place. And it is against opponents such as Schalke that they prove the legitimacy of their promotion ambitions. "The Pitmen are not considered by analysts as favourites in the fight for promotion this season. However, the team has a squad with a higher transfer value than their opponents, which means that they can surprise even in the underdog status. Bookmakers have identified the home team as favourites for the upcoming encounter, offering odds of 1.81 on their victory. Karlsruhe in the off-season released several players in the status of free agents, strengthening some positions. In order to strengthen, the team even paid Bayern Munich 750 thousand euros for left-back David Herold, which is quite an expensive deal by the standards of the Second Bundesliga. In the first round of the championship Karlsruhe in home walls dealt with Nuremberg, and then took away from Düsseldorf quite valuable one point. Following the cup win in mid-August, the team picked up two more league victories against Elfsberg and Braunschweig. The successful streak allows Karlsruhe to sit alongside Fortuna at the top of the standings, with a slightly worse goal difference than the competition. Schalke made 13 million euros on transfers in the off-season, selling three key players. Instead, five players were acquired for a much smaller amount of money and the same number were signed as free agents. At the same time, the Schalke coach did not have time to "fold" all of them into one team by the start of the season. This led the Pitmen to just one win in four rounds. The guests of the upcoming meeting have something to prove, so they will adopt Karlsruhe's attacking style of play. There will be plenty of goals.