| PROBABLE LINEUP |
SCHALKE  Unnerstall Uchida, Howedes, Matip, Fuchs Jones, Holtby Farfan, Raul, Draxler Huntelaar | HERTHA BERLIN  Kraft Lell, Hubnik, Janker, Bastians Perdedaj, Ottl Ebert, Raffael, Ramos Lasogga |
The hosts will be without first-team regular Kyriakos Papadopoulos as they look to record their first win in four matches, as the centre-half is ruled out with a hamstring problem.
Joining the Greek on the sidelines will be fellow defender Christoph Metzelder, who has an issue with his foot, while Timo Hildebrand and Ralf Fahrmann still remain long-term absentees. Additionally, Hans Sarpei will not be fit for the clash.
For the visitors, Levan Kobiashvili and Peter Niemeyer miss out through suspension, while Sebastian Neumann is short on match fitness and will also be absent. Furthermore, Marco Djuricin, Andre Mijatovic, Maik Franz, and Fabian Lustenberger are unavailable through injury.
| DID YOU KNOW? |
Klass-Jan Huntelaar is still the joint-top scorer for the Bundesliga with 25 so far this term, on par with Bayern Munich's Mario Gomez.
- Schalke's Raul also features in the top 10 at number eight, with 14 for the season so far.
- Pierre-Michel Lasogga is the visitors' top scorer, although the 20-year-old only weighs in at joint-21st with eight goals.
- On stats alone, Schalke hardman Jermaine Jones is currently the most undisciplined player in the German top flight at the moment with an incredible 13 yellow cards.
- Interestingly, Hertha's Raffael will be the player on the pitch with the greatest amount of Bundesliga assists between the two teams with nine, one more than Schalke's Jefferson Farfan.
Schalke badly need a win to tighten their grip on third place, and, before their 1-0 loss to champions Borussia Dortmund, they hadn't lost at home in 10 matches in the Bundesliga. The hosts should pick up the win here, although they have been leaking goals in their last few matches, so a clean sheet may not be on the cards.
Editor's Prediction
Schalke 3-1 Hertha BSC 
