- 1 Hoffenheim vs Schalke 04: seven Schalke absences and the Bundesliga’s lowest goal tally
- 2 Hoffenheim: five league defeats, a thin back line and four goals from Hlozek
- 3 Schalke 04: nine conceded in eight games and no league win since September
- 4 Free Bundesliga Prediction: Hoffenheim vs Schalke 04
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
Hoffenheim vs Schalke 04: seven Schalke absences and the Bundesliga’s lowest goal tally 
Schalke 04 are expected to travel to Sinsheim without seven players. Vozar, Maximilian Wober, Bachmann, Gantenbein, Soufiane El-Faouzi, Moussa Sylla and Ron Schallenberg are all listed as out for Sunday 8 November, kick-off 18:30 UK time.
The absences land on a side that has scored four Bundesliga goals in eight games, the lowest total in the division. Schalke have one league win, 3-1 at Union Berlin on 11 September, and they’ve gone six games without a win in all competitions.
Hoffenheim are 12th on nine points, three clear of Schalke in 17th. They’ve lost five of eight league games, but they’ve also beaten Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 and won 2-1 at Borussia Monchengladbach, which is why the market has them at 1.63, the draw at 4.50 and Schalke at 4.55.
Christian Ilzer’s side play Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in the Europa League at 17:45 UK time, three days before this game, while Schalke have no European commitments and last played on 31 October.
The two clubs last met on 9 April 2023, a 2-0 Hoffenheim win. Across 26 meetings in all competitions Hoffenheim have won 13, with five draws and eight Schalke wins, and Hoffenheim also won 5-1 and 3-0 in October 2022 and 4-2 in May 2021.
Hoffenheim: five league defeats, a thin back line and four goals from Hlozek 
Ilzer’s side lost 2-0 at Werder Bremen on 31 October with 0.86 expected goals, and went out of the DFB-Pokal on penalties at Holstein Kiel after a 1-1 draw in the same week. Those two results ended a run of three straight wins in all competitions.
Those wins were the best football of their season: 2-1 at Gladbach, 3-0 against Lyon in Europe and 3-0 against Leverkusen. Andrej Kramaric had a hand in all three goals against Lyon, with a goal and two assists, and his penalty against Leverkusen came on 79 minutes.
Home results have swung just as far. Hoffenheim beat Stuttgart 2-1 in Sinsheim on 11 September, with Hlozek among the scorers, and lost 3-2 there to Hamburger SV, whose only multi-goal away game of the season came that day.
Adam Hlozek leads the club with four goals, and that total shows how spread the scoring has been. Hoffenheim have 14 league goals and have conceded 16, with all of their first seven league games going over 2.5 goals before the trip to Bremen.
Ilzer has seven injury absences of his own. Vladimir Coufal (thigh), Bambase Conte (adductor), Patrick Wimmer (hamstring), Valentin Gendrey, Albian Hajdari and Nathan De Cat are all listed out, and Robin Hranac is missing with a knee problem.
Coufal is the first-choice right-back, so that position has to be filled from elsewhere in the squad. Against Schalke the bigger question is how much of the first-choice side Ilzer can field after Palace.
no renewal
Free for 2 weeks.
Schalke 04: nine conceded in eight games and no league win since September 
Miron Muslic’s side are hard to score against. They’ve let in nine league goals, the third-lowest total in the division, level with Paderborn, and they held Bayern to 0-0 at the Veltins-Arena on 5 September in front of 62,094.
The attack is where the season has stalled. All four of their league goals have come away from home, three of them in the Union win through Robin Gosens, Adil Aouchiche and Wober, and no Schalke player has more than one league goal.
Last Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat to RB Leipzig showed the gap. Leipzig had 17 shots to six and nine on target to one, and Schalke’s touches in the opposing box came to 10. A 2-0 DFB-Pokal defeat at Dynamo Dresden had come three days earlier.
Only FC St. Pauli have previously failed to score in their first five home Bundesliga matches of a season, and Schalke’s four home games have produced no goals. Sinsheim is an away day, though, and all four league goals have come on the road, including three at Union.
Schalke are one point behind Union Berlin, who drew with Koln on Sunday, and Muslic said after Leipzig that the players gave everything and that the team has taken a small step forward. Loris Karius called it a bad spell that the squad must work through together.
Captain Kenan Karaman and Emil Hojlund have also been ruled out in recent weeks, and Satoshi Tanaka gave away the penalty against Leipzig. Summer signing Hwang Hee-chan, on loan from Wolves, remains the most likely source of a goal.
Probable lineup Hoffenheim: Not announced at time of publication
Probable lineup Schalke 04: Not announced at time of publication
Free Bundesliga Prediction: Hoffenheim vs Schalke 04
Our prediction: Hoffenheim to win (1.63)
We’re backing Hoffenheim at 1.63. Fourteen league goals against Schalke’s four is the widest gap between the two sides, Schalke are winless in six in all competitions, and seven absences remove much of what little attacking depth they had.
The strongest argument against the pick is fatigue. Hoffenheim go to London on Thursday and come back with three days to prepare, and they’ve lost five league games this season, including their last. Schalke’s defence has also conceded fewer than Hoffenheim’s in the same eight games.
The head-to-head and the table both lean the same way, and we think Schalke’s lack of a scoring threat outweighs the Thursday trip. Hoffenheim have won 13 of 26 meetings with this opponent, including each of the last three listed in Sinsheim.
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
_________
About our free predictions
- What we publish on MathOdds are analyses, nothing more. We share a view, a reading of the moment, but never a guarantee. Sport remains what it is: unpredictable. A red card, an injury, a last-minute goal, and the script changes completely.
- Let’s be clear: there is no such thing as a risk-free bet. Even when it looks “obvious”, nothing ever is. And yes, that means you can lose. It’s even inevitable at some point.
- The smartest approach is to stay reasonable. Bet small, set a budget and stick to it. Never use money you need to live on. And above all: don’t chase your losses: that rarely ends well.
- A bet should remain a game, not a job or a source of income. If it starts taking up too much space in your daily life, causes stress or frustration, take a break. And if needed, talk to a support organisation: that’s what they’re there for.
- Ultimately, responsibility lies with you. Reading our content means accepting that risk exists and will never disappear, no matter how good the analysis.
- Essential reminder: gambling is prohibited for minors and must comply with the laws of your country. Need help? Visit begambleaware.org.
No commitment from us
Our predictions carry no contractual value. They have no legal standing. In short: you cannot rely on them to claim anything if a bet doesn’t come through.
Information changes
A prediction is always based on what we know at the time of writing. But between publication and kick-off, a lineup can change, a player picks up an injury, the weather turns, and the analysis can quickly be outdated. We cannot be held responsible for that.
Your responsibility
Before placing a bet, simply check that gambling is legal in your country. If it isn’t, that’s your responsibility, not ours.
Responsible gambling
We can’t say it enough: gamble responsibly. If you’re struggling to stay in control, don’t wait to seek help.
Legal age
MathOdds content is intended for adults only. By browsing here, you confirm you meet the legal age requirement for gambling in your jurisdiction.
About visuals
The images and logos of Hoffenheim and Schalke 04 on MathOdds are used solely to illustrate our articles. They do not imply any official affiliation with a federation or sports organisation, and we claim no rights over them. Those rights belong to their original owners. If any visual raises a concern, contact us and it will be removed without delay.
Leave a Reply