DID YOU KNOW?
* Koln's leading goalscorer this season is Milivoje Novakovic, who has struck 15 of his 16 goals at home.
* Despite their poor away form, Koln are formidable at home in recent times, winning eight of their last nine at the Rhein Energie Stadion.
* The last time Koln exceeded their current total of 41 points in the top flight was back in 2000-01 when they notched up 46.
* Schalke won the reverse fixture earlier in the season courtesy of a hat-trick from veteran Spanish striker Raul.
* The Royal Blues have lost their last five competitive games, repeating their horror run spanning August and September at the beginning of the season.
* They are the only side in the Bundesliga this term yet to score a goal from outside the penalty box - their last such goal came in April 2010 from Ivan Rakitic, who is now impressing for Sevilla.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Koln (4-2-3-1)
Rensing; Brecko, Geromel, Mohamad, Eichner; Petit, Pezzoni; Chihi, Podolski, Jajalo; Novakovic
Interim coach Volker Finke, whose main job is as director of football, is without Christian Clemens, Martin Lanig and Sebastian Freis. The former Freiburg boss will in all likelihood name an unchanged side from last week as the game comes too soon for winger Slawomir Peszko, who will take his place on the substitutes bench.
Schalke (4-4-2)
Neuer; Uchida, Howedes, Metzelder, Escudero; Farfan, Kluge, Papadopoulos, Jurado; Raul, Huntelaar
Schalke could go into this encounter with arguably their strongest eleven, as outlined above. However, Ralf Rangnick may opt for the exuberance of youth, meaning that Joel Matip could replace Christoph Metzelder in defence with Julian Draxler usurping Jose Manuel Jurado on the left flank. Mario Gavranovic, Tim Hoogland, Levan Kenia, Christian Pander and Christoph Moritz are all out.
Prediction
FC Köln 2-1 Schalke 04 
