On Saturday (18:30), FC Schalke will face VfB Stuttgart, who have a new injured player.

This coming Saturday, FC Schalke 04 and VfB Stuttgart will meet for a basement duel in the Bundesliga.

The last-placed team would like to drag the 14th-placed team even further down. With a win, Schalke could move to within three points of the Swabians.

While Schalke have won four games to nil, VfB celebrated their first win under new coach Bruno Labbadia against 1. FC Köln and thus jumped out of the relegation zone.

But there was also bad news after the 3:0 against Cologne. Pascal Stenzel was injured. The 26-year-old was substituted for Waldemar Anton in the 81st minute against FC and will now have to rest for two to three weeks with a torn muscle fibre.

In addition to Stenzel, Labbadia also had to replace the injured offensive players Tiago Tomás Serhou Guirassy against Cologne, especially Guirassy will also miss the S04 game.

This means that VfB are still missing their best attacker, so they should not expect many goals in the game in Gelsenkirchen. Schalke have been waiting 394 minutes for a goal of their own, VfB are still without a win away from home this season.

Therefore, the 90 minutes are likely to be very tactical. Because if Schalke loses, VfB would be gone for the time being. And Schalke urgently need a sense of achievement before they go to VfL Bochum for the basement derby a week later.

These are seminal weeks for the Königsblauen, who still have every chance despite the series without a win or a goal if they get the victories they need in the coming games.

What is encouraging is the record against VfB. In general, it is very even, but in Gelsenkirchen it is clearly in Schalke’s favour. Schalke have not lost their last six matches at home, and Stuttgart’s last win at the Knappen came in May 2013, when a certain Vedad Ibisevic scored twice in a 2:1 victory. In total, VfB have only won twelve of their 52 games at Schalke, with 33 matches going to the Königsblauen.