PROSHOTS
| PROBABLE LINEUPS |
TWENTE  Mihaylov Cornelisse, Douglas, Wisgerhof, Rosales Fer, Janssen, Brama Chadli, De Jong, John | SCHALKE  Hildebrand Uchida, Matip, Papadopoulos, Fuchs Hoger, Jones Obasi, Raul, Draxler Marica |
Steve McClaren is set to name an unchanged team from the side that crushed Eredivisie title rivals PSV 6-2 over the weekend, with the only possible change being Dwight Tiendalli coming in for Tim Cornelisse, though doubts remain over the 25-year-old's fitness.
Douglas' domestic suspension does not apply to European competition, but Denny Landzaat and Andrej Rendla are out with calf and knee problems respectively. Wesley Verhoek is back in training after his foot injury, but lacks the match fitness to start the encounter.
The bad news for Schalke is that Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has not recovered sufficiently from the concussion he sustained on international duty against England. Benedikt Howedes picked up a thigh injury in the course of the weekend's clash with Freiburg, and will be missing from the defence, along with Christoph Metzelder, who has a hamstring problem.
Jefferson Farfan is suspended for this match for accumulation of yellow cards, while Teemu Pukki in cup-tied. Lewis Holtby has been training with the club's youth ranks, but it is unclear whether the 21-year-old will be fit to start the match.
| DID YOU KNOW? |
These two sides have met on just one occasion in the past, with Twente defeating their German counterparts 2-1 in the 2008-09 Uefa Cup group stage.
- The Grolsch Veste club defeated Zenit St. Petersburg in the round of 16 of Europa League last season, before losing to Villarreal in the quarter-finals.
- Since being eliminated by the Madrigal outfit last season, the Dutch side are unbeaten at home in the competition for a total of six matches.
- Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (right) is the Europa League's top remaining goalscorer with six goals. Matias Suarez of Anderlecht has seven strikes to his name, but the Belgians were eliminated in the round of 32.
- The Veltins Arena club have played four times on Dutch soil, and have failed to win on each occasion.
- Huub Stevens' men are unbeaten in their last nine Europa League games, after a shock 2-0 reverse at the hands of HJK Helsinki in the qualifying rounds.
Twente will be on top of the world, having defeated PSV by such a crushing score-line. Schalke, on the other hand, are coming off the back of two crushing defeats which have all but killed off their Bundesliga aspirations. Accordingly, I'd expect Steve McClaren's men to record a victory against the Germans, but not by a margin so convincing.
Editor's Prediction
FC Twente 2-1 Schalke 
