**Leipzig rolls into Gelsenkirchen as heavy favorites** — Schalke's injury list reads like a casualty report, and Marco Rose's side have won 8 of the last 12 H2H clashes. Not exactly the vibe for a Schalke comeback. 🔴

Schalke are 1W-1D-3L across their last five and struggling to stay in this fight, while Leipzig bounced back from that Champions League thrashing with a 4-0 stomping of Elversberg. The gap between these two feels enormous right now.

Key storylines:

- **Edin Džeko and his supporting cast** face an **RB Leipzig back line** that's been mostly solid — Orbán, Lukeba, and Raum holding the fort despite their own injury concerns
- **Schalke's midfield** gets thinner by the week with five players sidelined; **Aouchiche and Tanaka** will need to carry a lot of weight
- **Benjamin Gruda and Timo Gomis** leading Leipzig's press should make life miserable for Karius and the Royal Blues

Expected lineups:

- **FC Schalke 04**: Karius, Katić, Kuruçay, Becker, Gantenbein, Aouchiche, Tanaka, Bachmann, Adamu, Džeko, Hee-chan
- **RB Leipzig**: Vandevoordt, Raum, Orbán, Lukeba, Baku, El Aynaoui, Banzuzi, Nusa, Gomis, Gruda, Guiu

Prediction:

**0-2 RB Leipzig**. This feels like a day trip for Marco Rose's men — Schalke simply don't have the bodies or the form to trouble them. ⚪