Kaiserslautern vs. Schalke 04: Traditionsverein derby in 2. Bundesliga Topspiel

Schalke seek to continue their winning start at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion.

Kaiserslautern will host Schalke on Saturday evening in search of their first point(s) of the season. Since their relegation from Bundesliga, Schalke’s solitary win over Kaiserslautern was in their first-ever 2. Bundesliga head-to-head fixture.

Kaiserslautern

Since then, the Reds have won each of the last three games against Schalke. Daisuke Yokota and Ragnar Ache scored the goals for Kaiserslautern in the most recent meeting, but both players moved on from the club this summer.

Last Sunday, ‘Lauterm started their campaign in Hannover with new signings Ivan Prtajin and Mahir Emreli leading the attacking line. Torsten Lieberknecht’s side nearly took a point before substitute Noel Aseko scored the only goal of the game fifteen minutes before time.

Team news

Daniel Hanslik and Richmond Tachie will hope to break that partnership in Kaiserslautern’s final third. The right-back Frank Ronstadt continues to be on the sidelines due to strain.

Schalke

It might not match last season’s 5-1 win over Eintracht Braunschweig, but Schalke once again started their campaign with three points at the expense of Hertha Berlin. A brilliant first-half performance secured a winning start for Miron Muslic in one of the most difficult jobs in German football.

Schalke aren’t among the favorites for promotion, but there is always an expectation that comes with managing a club of their stature. At the very least, they should definitely improve on the bottom-half finishes of the previous two seasons

Team news

Nikola Katic scored on his debut last week, but he was sent off in the closing stages of the 2-1 win. Taylan Bulut and Mertcan Ayhan will be strong candidates to replace the Bosnian center-back. Meanwhile, the return of the team captain Kenan Karaman will be a huge boost for Schalke.

Predicted lineups:

Kaiserslautern: Krahl; Elvedi, Gyamfi, Kim; Asta, Kunze, Sirch, Redondo; Ritter ©; Hanslik, Prtajin

Schalke: Karius; Bulut, Timo Becker ©, Sanchez; Schallenberg, El-Faouzi; Gantenbein, Vitalie Becker; Remmert, Antwi-Adjei; Sylla